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TWO ACTIVE BURGLARY gangs in south Dublin behind dozens of robberies a month are believed to have joined together in recent weeks, TheJournal.ie has learned.
The gangs, which are based in the Dun Laoghaire/Rathdown area, are well-known to gardaí in the area.
Last month, a number of robberies from homes in the area were reported as well as car thefts. December is one of the busiest months for burglaries and gardaí believe that the two gangs are to blame for the increase in thefts in the area.
New intelligence has suggested that the gangs, which would have stuck to their own defined locations, have now teamed up.
Areas targeted by both gangs in the last year include Dun Laoghaire, Monkstown, Sallynoggin, Cabinteely, Shankill, Killiney, Dalkey, Blackrock, Stillorgan and Clonskeagh.
Members who would never be seen together are now openly socialising, leading officers to believe that previous problems between the groups have been resolved.
It is believed that on some occasions, children under the age of 16 have been carrying out the robberies while the older criminals from the gangs plan the raids.
Latest garda figures have shown that burglary rates nationwide have reduced dramatically in the last two months of the year thanks to Operation Thor – a nationwide crackdown on thefts from the home.
However, the two Dun Laoghaire gangs continue to burgle.
A number of pubs in the areas have also been burgled in recent months. It is thought that these robberies were ordered by a senior criminal figure who has ties to remnants of the IRA which are still active in the Dun Laoghaire area.
Robbed to order
The thefts of cars from the area are also being linked to the two gangs.
While expensive cars, which are robbed to order, are usually ferried to the UK with false licence plates, other mid-range vehicles are stripped with their parts sold on. This is a quick and relatively safe way of making quick cash from the stolen cars.
Last year, a Dun Laoghaire sailing club for children was targeted by thieves. A training boat was stripped down and its engine was stolen. In total, three small boats had their engines stolen while other boats were also damaged.
Members of the sailing club said at the time that certain areas of Dun Laoghaire were becoming no-go areas.
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” certain parts of Dun Laoghaire are becoming no go areas “.
They sure are , especially if you’re on a minimum wage .
@Angela O’Riordan: I was worried about you there Angela , I thought you might have popped your clogs , and been reincarnated as an alt right crybaby .
I don’t flip burgers , I’ve only been in the job six months , I just butter the buns .
@Ken Hayden: you’re due for a promotion soon so …
@Siobhán Ni Mhurchú: I hope you’re right , but my boss doesn’t think so , she only let’s me butter the flat half of the buns .
@Ken Hayden:
1. by the canon to the right of East pier
2. Beggars on sea front and on Main Street.
3. Patrick street
4. Can’t remember the street name but where the credit union is.
5. Others?
@Ken Hayden: Love it!
Amazing the range of common household implements that can – with just a little effort at home – be turned into lethal close combat weapons.
Couple garden sprayers (set the nozzle to squirt not spray) filled with drain cleaner say; acid; or any caustic solution (and heavily marked with red Xs, make sure none of the family can get at them); couple circular saw blades that can become teethed discuses; couple hatchets; and I know Aldi sell an excellent Japanese saw that swings like a claideamh mhór, being heavier and wider at the end than at the grip. Just some examples. Cache them near the top of the stairs. Make sure there’s a key on the inside of the bedroom door and lock it at night. Hold the pass. Do not go down to meet them, let them come up to meet you…and hell on earth.
That Dun Laoghaire gang are welcome to drop by mine in Cavan. Could do with some nice stuffed heads for the study wall… Mr Shatter said it was OK.
@Sensword Byhax: Jeez McGyver, just buy a shotgun and leave it loaded by the kids bed like the rest of us.
@Morgan Freeman: the idea is to protect one’s loved ones not destroy them. Saws, hatchets, etc. don’t go off ”accidentally” and they are ALWAYS ”loaded” and ready to go in an instant moreover. Sprayer bottles filled with horrible stuff well yes but that’s why you have them marked up with big red Xs and danger signs.
Nowadays with gun regs you’d have to get to your gun-safe (bolted to an outside wall); get it open; assemble bolt and mag (if a .22) or stock and breech; find cartridges (stored in a separate place); load; sure at that stage the intruders would have made several cups of tea while waiting to take the gun off you. It’d take Arnie Schwarzenegger less time to tool up in Commando.
I keep my home defence kit in a wicker laundry basket. Ready to rumble in the time it takes to swing the lid open.
@Sensword Byhax: any tips for cottage dwellers?
@Sensword Byhax: Or kill them with a butternutsquash. and then eat the evidence.
@David Dickson: get an attic conversion!
@Sensword Byhax: I have a nuclear war head and a T-Rex. If they come to my house I’ll get the T-Rex to eat the bomb and then eat them and and and and and and……………
I’ve torn out my alarm system & de-registered from the Neighbourhood Watch. I’ve got two Pakistani flags raised in my front garden, one at each corner and the black flag of ISIS in the centre. The local Gaurds, CTI, STU and other Intelligence Services are all watching my house 24/7. I’ve never felt safer.
So did they call a press conference or can the Gardai arrest them since they seem to know who they are. Or is this article a load of bull.
@prop joe: no evidence. Just dna, finger prints, Garda surveillance, video and witnesses. You can convict unless you have something concrete.
@Morgan Freeman: follow them and catch them in the act
It seems that the approach now is for the burglaries to be physically carried by young kids who will be leniently treated by the Courts. It is sad that some parents allow their kids out overnight.
@Fiona deFreyne: they say the best reared children are an old maids children.
Been burgled is akin to emotional rape, destroying our cherished right and sense of security in our own homes.
“Well known to Garda” Yet, ready, willing and able to burglarise our homes any time today, tonight.
“Well known to Garda” surely means the gangs are winning the war and thumbing their noses at the State. Meanwhile, unsuspecting, law-abiding victims fearfully await the next pillage.
The sense of insecurity that prevails is not just a rural issue.
@Niall O’Reilly:
Paronia, you mean, not insecurity.
Vlad’s brave new Ireland, what a joke. Lets get back to the idea of cherishing all of the children of the nation equally.
Work to build community and we will get a better society.
@Con Murphy: Have you ever been burgled?
People always blame & complain about the courts for giving offenders bail who then go on to commit more burglaries.
No one ever considers that they may be supplying information to Gardai when caught, who in turn have a word with the DPP, getting then bail & lenient sentences in return for the information
Maybe if the guards stopped relying so heavily on criminals to provide their information & the courts didn’t have to reward them for said information things would change.
@Aindreas Macliam: you say that like its a given. Which it probably isn’t to be fair.
@Joey jabadoo: A Little Birdy told me, take from it what you will
Put a Job Centre sign over your front door; they’ll never come near you.
Read between the lines people
These “gangs” are joining up
And have been operating for a decade?
These gangs are also known as Garda
@Maurice Dodd: They mean Fine Gael & Fine Fail.
Curfew,for children under the age of eighteen from dusk till dawn,unless accompanied by a responsible adult,Parents to pay for any damages incurred by their charges.convicted criminals to face charges of criminal association with a mandatory sentence if found in the company of another convicted criminal this to include family members.
@Brian O Reilly: Under age of 10 more like. Parents take responsibility if they don’t go to jail.
I’d love them to try it here in the US. There’s more than one Padraig Nally over here.
@Shawn Rahoon: yeah Shawn you are so right.
First one through the Door would be no more.
Problem solved.
@Shawn Rahoon: yes Shawn, because America is such a safe place to live with zero crime
@gerry fallon:
You and “Shawn” are some joke.
Is this what we are turning into. Alt right thugs that Trump would be proud of.
@Ciarán Ó Dubhda: At least in the US you a right to self defense.
@Con Murphy: All bottom feeding burgling bags of sewage should be exterminated, the minute they try and gain access to your house. Filthy vermin.
@Ciarán Ó Dubhda: At least in the US you have a right to self defense and the defense of your premises by any means necessary.
@Ciarán Ó Dubhda: It would be less safe if there were no legally held fire arms. You can stick to your sweeping brush to defend yourself and your family, Like Padraig Nally I’ll use whatever means it takes.
Maybe they’ll rob a Judges home and then they’ll get the sentence they deserve…because they ain’t getting them now.
No hope. “Tough upbringing” “broken home” “difficult past but showing signs of remorse” am I missing anything??
@Carl: You forgot the old chestnut : “turning his life around”
In times like these, I believe living in so called third world countries is ideal. Even when the gardai knows the gangs and it’s members, they refuse to take any action. Why not beat the shit out of them and let them rot in prison. Oh no that’s against their human rights. But them robbing away innocent people is perfectly acceptable to this society. Thank God I left the country.
@Rishi Harani: ‘criminals thrive on the indulgence of society’s understanding’
@Rishi Harani:
Glad you are gone Rishi.
You obviously didn’t actually live in Ireland just used it like so many others. Best of luck beating up and rotting people in jail in your new country. Good ridence.
If the guards know them by name just pick them up and give them a good hiding like years ago.
Burglary rates nation wide have “reduced dramatically” according to Garda sources.Since when did we start believing Garda sources.
They should be given the address es of all judge’s and solicitor s after their houses have being burgled the lenient sentence s will soon disappear
It’s not “rural” crime so it’s ok, big schmoke doesn’t matter..
Ireland has become such an unequal and divided society in recent years since the austerity period began that such crimes are inevitable.
As a society we must strive to turn this around but of course the current government has no interest in doing so,and opinion polls show that the public support them.
We will just have to put up with the situation and hope it does not get worse.
Judges, judges, judges, judiciary, judiciary, sentencing, proper sentences, lengthening sentences…
I wonder if they have joined gravity to the strong force
I am sure the Gardai know all the gang members for years….Must be demoralizing getting a case against them only for the courts to let them out on bail or just give them a good scolding…..At the very least can they be electronically tagged when they are out on bail….Francis Fitzgerald promised this as minster but that was several years ago…..
Very vague article with no real sources or evidence. But the ‘well known to Gardai’ line will get the journal the clicks and comments they need as everyone will spurt the usual ‘courts too lenient’, ‘why have they not been arrested’ in the comments
I want a Gun!
“Upmarket” :) biased media bullshit
@Paul Redmond: how so? They’re targeting upmarket housing estates in these areas! All the break ins I’ve heard of in recent weeks are in relatively well to do estates and areas.
The biggest losers in society lol. These types of losers are Forever laughed at
If you have valuables stick them in a bank vault, get rid of your security gates and security alarms, dogs etc. Live in a real world and ignore the media who fuel the paronia of fools.
@Con Murphy: get rid of my dogs? Buy I love my dogs
@Con Murphy: get rid of my dogs? But I love my dogs, they protect my “the golf” clubs
@Con Murphy: “Live in the real world” and “stick your valuables in a vault”. Ahaaaa. Let’s all go the vault next time we’re goin to the ambassadors for tea and Ferrero Rocher.
@Con Murphy: Why would I want to stick my laptop, ipad and camera in a vault? Surely that would make using them most inconvenient.
@Con Murphy: Con! Are you from Cork? Just curious.
“Members of the sailing club” suppose ye play the golf also!
Ye have no idea how much we hate ye.
@Con Murphy: You’re a bad man Con. Let the hate go. It’s unhealthy. I know lots of people who play golf and they havn’t tuppence.
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