The Gardaí at Longford station are investigating an Attempted Murder incident, on Wednesday July 17 2024 at Springlawn Estate, Longford town.
At approximately 7.45pm, a Navy Blue BMW 3 series car, with NI/GB registration plates, entered the Springlawn Estate. The car drove around a green area, before, stopping outside the victim’s house, while local children were playing.
As the BMW car stopped a male suspect carrying a sawn-off shotgun got out of the front passenger seat and approached the driveway of the house. Almost simultaneously a rear seat passenger who had stepped out of the car, began to hold up a mobile phone as if recording the incident. After the incident both suspects then returned to the car and it drove away at speed.
Suspect Car Route:
- The car is seen on CCTV on Ballinalee Road shortly before entering the Spring Lawn estate. A few minutes later after the incident it again travelled along the Ballinalee Road as it left the Springlawn area.
- It then turned left onto the Dublin Road, continuing through the roundabout onto the N4 in the Dublin direction.
- After approx. 1.5 kmh it is known to have turned right at Fallon’s Hardware, stopping in the laneway of a nearby farm. Here, the suspects set the car on fire, which was later recovered by Gardaí, totally destroyed.
Garda Appeal:
- The victim, a 74-year-old man received hospital treatment for his injuries and is continuing his recovery. Gardaí want to emphasise to the community of Longford that every resource has been deployed to investigate this incident and prevent any reoccurrence of a similar crime taking place. While acknowledging that there has been fear within the community they want to reassure them of their determination to bring those involved before the courts.
- Gardaí would like to acknowledge the public’s support and assistance received to date during this investigation, and encourage them to come forward, no matter how insignificant you feel your information maybe?
- Were you in the vicinity of the Springlawn estate, or the Ballinalee Road area of Longford at approx. 7.45 pm on the evening of the 17th July 24, Did you see the B.M.W car drive at speed?
- Do you know the identity of the suspects seen in the CCTV?
- Do you have any knowledge in relation to the Navy Blue B.M.W 3 series, registration No YS56LCN? Do you know who purchased it or had possession of it? Where was it between November 2022 and the day of the shooting on 17th July 2024?
- This incident would have been a talking point, during which the suspects may have been named?
- Did you see these suspects or car in the Longford town area before the shooting? Do you know who they are?
- Were you parked at Fallons hardware on the Main Longford/Dublin Road between 7.40 and 8.15pm on the evening of the 17th July 24? Did you see a dark coloured B.M.W 3 series car which drove into nearby farmland, where it was set alight and destroyed by fire? Was there any other vehicle(s) here? The suspects may have transferred to another vehicle?
Longford Garda Station – Tel; (043) 3350570
The Gardaí at Carrick-On-Shannon station are investigating an incident of burglary that occurred on 20th August 2024 between 12:55 and 1:20pm at Lis Cara estate, Carrick-On-Shannon, Co. Leitrim. On the date in question, the victims left their home for a short time. During the course of their absence, entry was gained through the back door of their property, which was forced open and a sum of money and a large amount of jewellery was taken.
Three men were observed running from the area, around the time of the burglary.
Suspect Descriptions
Suspect 1: Aged in his 20’s, wearing a baseball cap, jeans and light blue hoodie
Suspect 2: Aged in his 20’s, wearing a baseball cap, jeans and a dark blue top
Suspect 3: Aged in his 20’s, wearing a baseball cap, jeans, a black top and dark runners. Slighter build than the first two suspects.
Suspect Vehicle:
Grey Audi TT
Garda Appeal:
- Do you recognise or have you been offered any of the jewellery that was taken during the course of this burglary?
- Can you match the suspect descriptions to an Audi TT.
- The Audi TT drove along the R280 in the direction of the town centre. Did you see this car?
Carrick-On-Shannon Garda Stn inv. Tel: 071-9650510
On this month’s Crimecall, Crime Prevention was in studio discussing vehicle Safety, offering preventive advice in relation to vehicle theft and theft from vehicles.
There have been over 4000 incidents of theft of vehicles during 2023 and over 3000 incidents year to date in 2024
The hours between 11pm and 4am are the most common hours for incidents to occur with Tuesday and Saturdays being the most common days. Between the hours of 6pm and 5am account for the majority of incidents (more than 60% of incidents).
Vehicle Immobilisers:
Since 1998, immobilisers have been installed in all new vehicles for sale in the EU. Immobilisers work by restricting an essential component part of the engine unless the correct key is used to try and start the vehicle. They are very effective in reducing vehicle theft.
If you have a vehicle without an immobiliser, you should consider having one retro fitted. Many immobilisers now work in conjunction with an alarm. Therefore, if an attempt is made to steal your vehicle it should not start and the alarm should sound.
Various other security devices are also available that you can consider installing to protect your vehicle:
Steering wheel locks work by simply locking onto the steering wheel preventing the steering wheel from being turned. They also act as a visual deterrent as most are yellow in colour and are clearly visible from outside the vehicle.
External wheel lock or clamps can also be fitted onto the wheel of the vehicle along with handbrake locks, gear stick locks and pedal locks which often have an additional alarm function.
All these items act as a deterrent and can make your vehicle less attractive to a thief.
Keyless Entry:
Many modern vehicles utilise a keyless entry system. They work by sending a signal between the key and the vehicle. Relay signal theft can occur when the signal of the key is mimicked and used to gain entry to a vehicle. In order to prevent the key signal transmitting while away from the vehicle, the key can be placed in a Faraday bag or box or even a biscuit tin for storage. By doing so, these items restrict the radio signal from being emitted from the key and reduce the risk of it being copied.
Theft from Vehicles:
In order to mitigate against the risk of theft from your vehicle always lock and double check the security of the doors and windows. You should remove all valuable items from your vehicle. However, if you must store valuable items in the vehicle consideration should be given to enhancing the locking systems and installing a GPS tracker. In addition, a sensor linked to your house alarm can be fitted to the vehicle and activated when you are at home. Consideration could also be given to fitting a secure locked storage chest or cage vault within vans.
General vehicle safety advice:
- Buyers should check the security features of their vehicles and make decisions relating to augmenting security
- A visible steering wheel lock or chain should be considered
- Leave expensive property at home or work, if not required
- If you must leave valuables in a vehicle, do not leave them on show - A good idea is to leave an empty glove box open, showing would-be criminals that there is nothing for them to steal.
- Lock doors and fully close windows - don’t be tempted to leave the windows slightly open.
- Fit an alarm
- Fit an Immobiliser or use a physical lock
- Install a tracker
- Use a catalytic convertor lock
- Park under streetlights or in a secure carpark
- Park where there is CCTV, when possible
- Fit theft-resistant number plate fittings
Crime Prevention
Garda National Cyber Crime Bureau was in studio to discuss European Cyber Security Month (ECSM).
The theme this year is “Secure our World”, with a focus on so many people working from home and the potential cyber risks to both personal and company data.
Online frauds or loss of personal and company data can have serious financial and reputational implications for the victim. Our figures suggest that cybercrimes are on the increase, up around 25% last year. So we really want to remind people of the dangers and how to prevent falling victim to cyber criminals.
We know that businesses as well as individuals can be victims of cyber-attacks. But if we look at the individual side of things, the tactics used by cyber criminals are evolving all the time.
The older tactics like phishing and ransomware attacks are very much still with us. In many cases these use personal information we have put online ourselves on our social media or our website presences.
Other scams are very inventive such as the fake QR Code scam that got a lot of attention in the past week. This involved a fake QR code being placed on parking meters in various locations over a genuine one so that when someone scans it to try to pay for parking, they inadvertently give the criminals their bank card details and can potentially lose a large sum of money. QR Codes are everywhere so before you use one, check that its part of the notice and not just stuck on. Check where the code link leads you to before processing the payment. If you’re not sure, use an alternative method of payment. Or use the official App to pay for goods or parking rather than relying on a QR link that may have been tampered with.
When it comes to this current QR code scam, we are investigating and I would encourage any victims to report it to their local Garda Station so it can be fully investigated.
In addition, we are all familiar with text message and emails containing links that at first glance may appear genuine. Despite all the publicity around not clicking on links and verifying the sender of emails before responding we are still seeing a large number of victims of this type of cybercrime. The cyber criminals only need a few people to respond to make a profit.
To those of us who are hybrid working, while many companies are reminding us about the risks - the first protection is for the individual to adopt the same diligence they would when in the office.
With our hybrid working environment we can easily be distracted, we take chances we wouldn’t take in the office and we often don’t just stop before we click. But as soon as you’ve clicked the link or input any details, you’re in the net of the criminals. Getting caught up in a cybercrime can have consequences for the victim at home or at work. Apart from the financial costs, cybercrime can damage our personal reputation as an employee. It can also affect how confident we are about going on the Internet and who we trust online.
It's not only texts, but email can be designed to trick us as well. At first glance an email may appear to be from a colleague requesting that you carry out a particular task, but when you double check the actual email it is then you can clearly see it’s a fake.
Our advice here is to first remember that every online action has an impact whether it’s sharing personal content, accepting unsolicited friend requests, making comments online or clicking on a link in an email. Being online is virtual and you need to be extra vigilant as you can’t always see the risks behind the screen. Not everything is as it seems online so you should always verify the source or the sender before responding. Ask yourself what is the message or email asking you to do? And can you independently verify it? Once you’re satisfied that it is a scam, block the number or the profile and delete the message.
Further information on the (ECSM) campaign 2024 can be found on the Garda social media accounts, as well as in a comprehensive booklet called “Cybercrime Risks & Prevention Tips”, which can be downloaded from the Garda website. Here you will find information on all types of cybercrime, the harm that cybercrime can cause and how to prevent it. So I would urge viewers to check that out.
www.garda.ie/cybercrime for more information.
www.garda.ie/cybercrime
Garda National Cyber Crime Bureau
On Wednesday 10th July 2024 at approximately 1.10pm at Kilbride Lane, Bray, Co. Wicklow the victim was walking with two small children when a male approached her, produced a knife and threatened her. The victim quickly fled the scene.
Suspect Description:
- White
- Early 30’s
- Height 5”6’ – 5”7’ approx.
- Slim build
- Blonde short hair - longer at the sides of his face
- Large, long and full eyebrows
- Dark coloured eyes with short dark eyelashes
- Long shaped nose with two red marks on either side
- Small lips and curve shaped ears
- Older face, drawn out, tanned with wrinkles across the cheeks
- Strong Irish country accent
- Carried a backpack on his back
Bray Garda Station investigating. Tel: 01-6665300
Gardaí at Youghal station, are investigating a Burglary incident that occurred just outside the village of Killeagh, Co. Cork - located between Youghal and Midleton on the N25. On Monday 8th May 2023 at approximately 4.20am, two suspects approached a service station. One of the suspects carried an iron bar, the other suspect carried an empty bag. They were then joined by a third suspect. One of the suspects attempted unsuccessfully to interfere with an external CCTV camera. They proceeded to break the window of the shop and climb through it. They then took the doors off the cigarette unit and filled their bags with a substantial amount of cigarettes and vapes. They leave the same way they entered, through the broken window.
Gardaí believe the suspects left in a grey saloon type car towards the villages of Mount Uniacke and Dungourney.
Suspect Descriptions:
Suspect 1
- Black Leather Jacket
- Striped face mask
- Blue Gloves
- Dark Trousers
- Dark Runners
- Black hat
Suspect 2
- Black ‘L.F.C.’ Jacket
- Navy Hoodie
- Striped Face mask
- Yellow gloves
- Dark navy jeans
Suspect 3
- Black leather Gillet
- Navy Hoodie
- Striped Face mask
- Yellow gloves
- Blue jeans
Garda Appeal
- Do you recognise the suspects in the CCTV footage?
- Were you in the Killeagh, Mount Uniacke or Dungourney areas and do you recall seeing a grey saloon type vehicle driving at speed in the area?
- Can you associate the suspects in the footage with the grey saloon car?
- Were you offered vapes or cigarettes for sale at any stage since 8th May 2023?
- Do you have any information that may assist the investigation?
Youghal Garda Station – Investigating. Tel: 024-92200
Unfortunately, there has been a rise in the number of fatal road traffic collisions over the last number of years. Last year was the worst year for fatal road traffic collisions since 2016.
Operation Iompair is an initiative by An Garda Síochána’s Roads Policing Division to tackle distracted driving on our roads. This initiative uses an unmarked truck, crewed by two Gardaí, who patrol the motorways and dual carriageways of the greater Dublin area to detect drivers committing offences such as holding their mobile phone while driving, watching films on laptops or tablets or any other conduct that distracts from their driving.
This is a pilot programme which began in the summer of 2024 and is currently run by the D.M.R. Roads Policing Division. At the conclusion of the pilot programme, the results from each deployment will be analysed and a decision will then be made whether to roll the project nationwide with the purchase of additional trucks.
The operation uses the unmarked truck, followed closely behind by a number of unmarked “interceptor” Garda vehicles who stop vehicles over who have committed an offence. The most common offence is holding a mobile phone while driving, which comes with a fixed charge notice of €120 and three penalty points.
The benefit of the truck is its elevated seating position, which allows Gardaí to clearly observe drivers of other trucks, vans or cars holding a mobile phone or otherwise engaging in distracted driving. This is something that cannot always be seen using conventional patrol cars or motorcycles.
During a typical Operation Iompair deployment, gardaí are detecting between 25 and 30 distracted driving offences, - holding a mobile phone and a large portion of those drivers are looking and interacting with the phone. You are four times more likely to be involved in a road traffic collision when holding your phone while driving. This can be particularly devastating if you are driving a heavy goods vehicle that can weigh over 40 tonnes.
As of 18th September 2024, Gardaí have issued over 16,000 fixed charge notices for drivers holding a phone while driving. That’s up 13 per cent on the same period in 2023. The message is still not getting through so some drivers. An Garda Síochána hopes that this new initiative will help to change driver’s behaviour and make the roads safer.
Roads Policing