Large quantity of cigarettes seized following overnight burglaries

Gardai said that shortly after 2am on Tuesday, a number of men forced entry into a filling station in Gorey town in Co Wexford.

Cigarettes along with an undisclosed sum of cash were taken.

A short time later convenience stores in the villages of Redcross and Rathnew were burgled along with a phone shop in Wicklow town.

Sums of cash along with cigarettes and mobile phones were taken during the raids.

During a follow up operation involving gardai attached to special crime operations, Dublin based garda units and the garda air support unit a car was intercepted in the Bawnogue area of west Dublin.

As part of Operation Thor, two men aged in their 20s were arrested at the scene following a foot chase.

Both men are being held at Wicklow Garda station under Section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act.

The car involved in the incident has been removed for forensic examination. A large quantity of cigarettes along with phones, sim cards and other property were recovered from the car by investigating gardai.