Four more van owners report that their vehicles were targeted by thieves bringing to 12 hit in Carlow and Kilkenny on one night this week

Four more van owners have contacted Gardaí locally to say their vehicles were targeted by thieves.

We reported yesterday (Tuesday) how eight were hit in a three-hour stint from 11pm on Monday night in the areas of Bagenalstown, Paulstown, Callan and Carlow.

The first is thought to have happened at about 11:20pm in Bagenalstown at the two estates of St. Brigid’s Crescent and Gleann na Bearú just off the Royal Oak Road.  Then it was onto Marble Court in Paulstown and further to Callan after midnight to strike at Edmund Rice estate, Clonkill and West Street before hitting four residential areas in the Pollerton area of Carlow Town; Hunters Green, Laural Park, Burrindale and Kingswood between 1:15am and 2:15am.

Power tools were taken in a lot of the cases, drills, grinders an assortment of items.

Today on KCLR Live, Sgt Conor Egan said four more work vans within the areas mentioned fell prey to what’s thought to be the same culprits.

He noted “The modus operandi in all of them is similar, they either break the fly window in the vans and gain access or else they drill a hole at the locks or pop the locks and that was the case in all twelve”.

Added to that one key clue is in a vehicle that appears to have been seen in a number of the areas, with up to four male occupants.

Sgt Egan says “We believe that the vehicle connecting all these crimes is a dark coloured possibly, we’re fairly convinced at this stage, it’s a Ford Focus, this vehicle was intercepted by Carlow gardaí, a mobile garda patrol, on the Hacketstown Road at approximately 2:15am yesterday morning, now it took off at speed out the Hacketstown Road and in an effort to evade detection it switched off its lights”.

Divisional Crime Prevention Officer, Sgt Peter McConnon says “We ask people to ensure that their vehicles are locked and secured at all times, in these particular incidents that we’re looking at all these incidents were locked so it’s important that the payoff is not good if you can remove your drills, your power tools from your work vans it’s possible”>

He adds “We did come across one fantastic piece this week where the van owners’ home was alarmed, he put a wireless PIR into his van which was connected into his home alarm when that van was entered this week, the alarm in the house went off, the guys scarpered empty handed. So if your house is alarmed look at extending that alarm into the van by way of a wireless PIR and if anybody needs any further please contact my office at Kilkenny Garda Station”.

Contact details for local stations here