A 12-year-old boy was one of five members of a burglary gang arrested digging up €70,000 in cash which gardaí suspect belonged to slain crime boss ‘Fat’ Andy Connors.

The gang was caught red-handed in west Dublin on Friday afternoon as a mechanical digger was used to retrieve the massive cash haul.

But the gang members’ every move was being watched by detectives and a Garda helicopter before officers swooped on them.

Four of them – including the 12-year-old boy – are closely linked to the notorious ‘Cock Wall’ gang.

The fifth man is a relative of ‘Fat’ Andy Connors, who was shot dead at his home in Saggart, Co Dublin, in 2014.

The Irish Independent has learned gardaí are probing whether the cash haul was buried there by ‘Fat’ Andy before his murder in an effort to hide his ill-gotten gains from gardaí.

It is also understood the plot of land where the money was recovered from is connected to a well-known businessman.

The operation was carried out by members of the Drugs and Organised Crime Bureau (DOCB) on Friday as part of an ongoing investigation into one of the country’s most prolific burglary gangs.

A thousand children are at constant risk of being exploited by crime gangs, survey finds

One thousand children under the age of 17 are at constant risk of being exploited by criminal networks across the country.

The figure was estimated following a national survey of Garda juvenile-liaison officers.

It also followed study – carried out at the University of Limerick – into the links between children and crime gangs in a Garda sub-district outside Dublin.