People have been warned against leaving large sums of cash in their cars after a spate of thefts saw a criminal gang steal €20,000 in one area of Cork.
Supt Mick Comyns of Mayfield Garda station in Cork urged people withdrawing large sums from banks to be very careful with their money and not to leave it unattended in their cars if they are not going immediately home.
According to Supt Comyns, six people have had sums ranging from €700 to €7,000 stolen from their car shortly after withdrawing cash from banks in the Glanmire and Little Island areas of Cork.
Gardaí believe the same gang is behind all six thefts due to similarities in the modus operandi.
“All six victims had just left banks with sums of cash which they left in their cars when they went shopping or visiting and they all returned to discover their cars broken into and their money stolen.
“We have checked internal CCTV footage from the banks involved and we can find no sightings of anyone acting suspiciously within the bank so they must be targeting people as they leave the banks.
“We would urge anyone withdrawing cash not to carry it openly in an envelope but to conceal it on their person and not to leave it in their car if they are not returning home immediately,” Supt Comyns said.
Gardaí believe the gang is following their victims in cars as they drive off from the bank and when the victim parks their car and leaves it unattended, the thieves break into the car to steal the cash.
“They check to see if the driver might have forgotten to lock the car door or if there is any weakness in the car but if that doesn’t work, they are happy to smash the windows to steal the cash.”
Garda technical experts have carried out forensic examinations of the targeted cars but so far the examinations have yielded of evidential value suggesting the criminals are experienced operators.
“We don’t know how many people they may have targeted - there may be other people they’ve followed leaving the bank only to discover they went home or took the cash with them from the car.
“But certainly in the six cases where they managed to get money, they were professional in the way they went about targeting some unsuspecting bank customer and then relieving them of their cash.”
The thefts happened over the last 20 months on February 8th, 2015; June 9th, 2015; December 8th, 2015; and on three dates this year; August 9th, November 4th and November 23rd.
Gardaí said they have an open mind on who might be behind the thefts but have urged people who have noticed any suspicious activities outside banks in Glanmire and Little Island to contact them.
“Obviously we want to warn people about taking precautions if they withdraw money from a bank but equally if they have noticed anyone acting suspiciously we would like to hear from them.”
Anyone who may have observed people acting suspiciously in Glanmire or Little Island is asked to contact Glanmire Garda station on 021-4821002 or Mayfield Garda station on 021-4558510.
