500 ARRESTED IN CITY CRACKDOWN

Gardai respond to street crime storm with a week of detentions

-  MICHAEL O'TOOLE

GARDAI arrested more than 500 suspects in Dublin in a single week, it was revealed yesterday.

A spokesman said 509 people were detained between Friday, July 28 and last Thursday.

The revelation came as the force faced sustained pressure over street crime in the capital notably after the brutal attack on US tourist Stephen Termini, 57, in the city centre on July 19.

He suffered serious injuries in the attack and has only recently emerged from a coma.

The fallout led to calls for more policing in Dublin and the Government injected €10million to pay for extra patrols in the capital between now and December.

As well as 509 arrests in the Dublin Metropolitan Region, that stretches from Balbriggan in the north to Shankill in the south, gardai also said they had:

Carried out some 689 searches, with around 500 linked to drugs inquiries