Drivers of luxury cars have been warned to be extra vigilant after the owners of two brand-new Mercedes had their vehicles hijacked outside their homes last month, writes Patrick Logue.
Gardaí believe the cars were being stolen to order by West Dublin criminal gangs for a known stolen car dealer and were to be exported to "customers" on the Continent. Both cars were later recovered in West Dublin before their identities had been changed, and the vehicles exported for delivery abroad.
"The owners had driven into their driveways and about to get out and go into their houses when they were attacked by four individuals on both occasions," Det Sgt Finbar Garland of the Garda Stolen Vehicle Unit told The Irish Times.
"It is a new phenomenon. We're a bit worried about it," he added. "It hasn't happened since November, but there were two in one week. It is a phenomenon we hope isn't going to happen again."
In both incidents the cars bore 06 registration plates and were worth well in excess of €100,000 each.
"As soon as the door opened they were approached by individuals and forced to hand over their keys," said Garland.
Both times the thieves did not wear any face masks or balaclavas, but concealed their identities by pushing their clothing around their faces during the attack. In one of the hijackings pepper spray was used against the driver but guns or other weapons were not produced either time.
Garland believes the same gang was responsible for both thefts, and that they lay in wait for the drivers to return home after work at teatime.
"We haven't anybody for these thefts, the inquiry is still ongoing but a number of suspects have been nominated," said Garland.
He said it would be very difficult to sell such stolen cars in the Republic without detection, and for this reason both cars were destined to be exported and sold to individuals on the Continent or further afield who had placed an order with car criminals.
Typically such cars have their identification markings swapped and shipped in containers. They are also often given false plates before being driven to Belfast and taken on the ferry to the United Kingdom.
They are then taken to Dover where they are brought over to mainland Europe to their new "owners".
In the November incidents, however, the cars were recovered in a matter of days.
"When cars are stolen in that fashion, an alert is put out straight away - not because they are high-value, but because of the nature of the way they were taken. Every patrol car in the Greater Dublin area would be on the look out," Garland added.
One of them was found parked in a leafy residential road while the other was found in the car park of an apartment block in west Dublin. Garland believes they had been parked in these locations by the thieves before being handed over to the stolen car dealer.
Garland said it is very difficult to protect yourself against car hijackings. "Drivers of high-value vehicle should be vigilant at all times. I would advise people to realise their car is a potential target and a tracking system is the best thing to get."
He also warned owners not to offer any resistance if they are hijacked.
Cars stolen in Ireland have ended up in far-flung areas including Eastern Europe, Malaysia, South Africa, and Nigeria.
While countries where they drive on the left like Ireland are preferred "there is no problem in changing the steering wheel to the other side".
The number of car thefts in the Republic has remained at a steady 14,000 in 2006, but up to 80 per cent of these are recovered and returned to their owner.
One of the biggest recent successes of the Garda Stolen Vehicle Unit was the recovery of about 12 4x4s in the British port of Tilbury over the past 12 months. It is believed they were destined for Nigeria and were stolen with the help of Nigerian suspects in Dublin.
Some members of the Polish community here have also been involved in a scam where they steal the identity numbers of cars after viewing cars advertised in car magazines or in classified ads.
Once they view the car they take note of the chassis number and use this to create a false identification for another stolen car of a similar make. Six arrests were made in connection with this in July and four people face charges before the courts. One individual faces extra charges after he allegedly ran over a garda and put him in hospital.
About 20 stolen vehicles were recovered by members of the Garda investigating this scam.