Gardaí warn over ‘fishing’ theft of luxury cars

A Garda chief has warned that thieves are now targeting high value cars parked in the front of houses in the West of Ireland, aping a crime trend that has been prevalent in Dublin for many years.

Garda Chief Superintendent, Tom Curley, told the Connacht Tribune that the theft of high powered and high value cars such as BMWs and Audis from outside houses, was now a growing trend in places like Galway.

He said that the gangs of thieves seemed to have a ready market for such vehicles while specialised ‘breakers’ yards’ could dismantle a car for parts in the space of a few hours.

“Such cars are virtually impossible to steal unless the thieves can get access to the keys but we are finding that in most of those thefts, the keys have been left in a very accessible place in the house,” said Supt. Curley.

He also warned that the car theft gangs had the technique of getting their hands on the keys ‘off to a fine art’, with ‘fishing’ now the usual modus operandi.

“Car keys are one item that should never be just left around the house – and especially when people go to bed at night, the car keys should never be left on a table or shelf near the door.

“We have come across a number of cases where the car keys have been ‘fished’ from a table through the letter box of the front door of houses. This is just making life far too easy for the thieves,” said Supt. Curley.

He also said that there was a recent ‘run’ of trailer thefts from yards and farmyards, many of them in the North Galway area.

High value Ifor Williams trailers have often been the target for the thieves who normally have the farmyard ‘cased’ for a number of days before striking.

“In far too many of those trailer thefts, the task has been made far too easy for the thieves. Farmers and builders should take all precautions to secure their yards with heavy duty locks and night lights in place: while no yard can be 100% theft proof, in many cases they can be secure enough to deter any potential thieves,” said Supt. Curley.

He said that Gardai were also regularly monitoring the movement of travelling gangs from Dublin who were using the ‘easy access’ motorway trip from the capital to places in the West of Ireland for ‘quick hits’.