Gang members as young as 12 carrying out hold-ups in Galway estate

Thugs as young as 12 on the east side of the city have developed a modern twist on hold-up robberies of horse and carriages in medieval times.

The young teenagers are setting up road blocks with mattresses and beds and extracting cash from unsuspecting victims at entrances to housing estates.

The gang of youths is targeting motorists entering the Rahylin Glebe estate in Ballybane. The gang’s modus operandi is to throw mattresses across the road at a speed ramp at the entrance to the estate – this means that cars cannot pass or drive over the mattresses.

The youths then demand money from the motorists and if they cough up the cash, they are allowed to proceed through to the estate.

Last Sunday night, between 11pm and 11.15pm, a visitor to a home of one of the residents was accosted while leaving the estate.

The youths, numbering around six, and aged 12 years and upwards, demanded €2 from the driver as he attempted to leave the estate. In this particular instance, the man refused to hand over any money and he was allowed to proceed.

Others, who felt intimidated at the road block, forked out the money in order to leave the estate.

For more on this story, see the current edition of the Galway City Tribune