Two men have been arrested by gardai after most of the life-savings stolen from a pensioner were recovered at a house in Cork.
Detectives backed by members of the Regional Support Unit searched houses in the Blarney and Fairhill areas and arrested the two men, both in their late 20s.
A substantial amount of cash was recovered in the Blarney house, believed to be the money stolen from the pensioner last Sunday by a man posing as a garda.
A young father, who lives in the house, but who is not from the area originally, was arrested.
At the house in Fairhill, on the city’s northside, a second man was arrested and gardai seized a car matching the description of the vehicle used in Sunday’s incident.
Gardai had issued an appeal for help after the 70-year-old man, a retired drinks industry worker, was conned out of his life savings as he was about to leave on a pilgrimage to Medjugorje.
The man had withdrawn the cash, believed to be in excess of €20,000, because he did not believe it would be safe on deposit if the country’s economic condition worsened.
He was approached outside his home in the Sun Valley Drive area of Cork at about 6.50am on Sunday by a man posing as an undercover garda.
He told the pensioner he was checking bank notes amid concerns that counterfeits were in circulation.
He also said gardai were specially marking high denomination euro notes so that, if they were stolen, they could be identified and returned.
The pensioner admitted to having cash in the house — and agreed to present it so it could be verified as genuine and then specially marked.
