Firebug thieves cause €20,000 damage

A FIREBUG gang of thieves caused an estimated €20,000 worth of damage to disused cars parked at a dismantling compound on the Headford Road after setting the vehicles alight earlier this week.

The gang are thought to have broken into the Headford Road Car Dismantlers compound shortly before 8pm last Tuesday evening – the motivation for the raid hasn’t been established although the gang may have been on the trail of copper wire.

However, detectives are trying to figure out the motivation for the deliberate setting fire to the cars at the compound – 40 vehicles were damaged in the incident.

The fire – described by onlookers as ‘quite spectacular’ – brought a large plume of smoke to the skies that could be seen all over the city at dusk on Tuesday evening for several hours.

Five Fire Brigade units fought the blaze from shortly after 9pm to midnight and succeeded in preventing it spreading to a number of other vehicles and to the garage/stores area of the compound.

Gardai, who are treating the cause of the fire as suspicious, have appealed for anyone who might have noticed anything suspicious in the vicinity

“This was a very serious fire at the compound causing damage of several thousand euro – we are hoping that there is someone out there who may have information that could be of assistance to us,” said a Garda spokesman.

 Gardai are hopeful that CCTV footage may also be of assistance to them in trying to identify the gang members involved in the incident. The owners of the compound have estimated the amount of damage caused to be in the region of €20,000.

For more on this story, see the Galway City Tribune.