18 people have been arrested in the Carlow area over a range of alleged offences.

Gardaí carried out a 'day of action' in the area yesterday as part of Operation Thor / Project Storm, which are operations aimed at "preventing crime, disrupting criminal activity and enhancing community engagement".

16 of those arrested were questioned for a range of alleged offences including theft, assault, fraud, burglary and criminal damage.

10 people have since been charged, and are due in court in the coming weeks.

Meanwhile, 36 checkpoints were carried out targeting the movement of local criminal groups.

The checkpoints saw one arrest, as well as the seizure of five vehicles.

In a statement, gardaí said: "A number of community engagement activities took pace during the day, including road safety workshops at a local schools.

"The Garda Mounted Unit visited a number of primary schools in the area and a crime prevention stand was set up at Carlow shopping centre."

The operation was led by Carlow-Kilkenny gardaí with the assistance of the Armed Support Unit, while 25 trainee guards currently based in Templemore also took part.