Rural communities in fear of ‘brazen’ burglars

Crimecall appeal over Bawnboy burglary

The owner of a west Cavan shop says “brazen” gangs stalking the country in the dead of night are putting “fear” into rural communities.

An Siopa in Bawnboy is owned by couple Patrick and Sabrina Maguire and featured on RTÉ’s Crimecall this week.

The village shop was targeted by a well-organised and equally well-equipped gang in the early hours of August 23, 2021, who made off with a substantial sum of cash and cigarettes.

Not only did the gang members snip wires on a telegraph pole across the road connecting the alarm system, but they came armed with an angle grinder and enough force to pull the shop’s safe from the ground before smashing it open.

In total, the gang spent close to three hours inside the Bawnboy shop property without being noticed, having gained entry shortly before 2am.

When they did eventually make their getaway, the gang sped off in an as yet “unaccounted for” dark blue-coloured Lexus in the direction of Ballyconnell Town where a vehicle matching the same description was picked up on CCTV at Kennedy’s Spar at 4:55am.

“It’s a trend that’s happening. They cut the safe open, destroyed it. It took time to do that. Brazen stuff.

“But it’s not even the damage that’s done, or costs of it all, it’s the likes of Carmel [McHugh] that works here, or a young girl working here and locking up some evening. It’s the fear it puts in people. It’s a village and a community too that gets affected by it. The school up there was broken into two years ago. This sort of thing scares people.”

Shopkeeper Carmel was only just returning from 10 weeks off work sick, which included four weeks spent on a ventilator after contracting Covid, when she came upon the scene the morning after the break-in.

“The whole place was in a mess,” she told The Anglo-Celt. “They took the cigarette machine out from behind the counter and threw it onto the floor. I still have no idea how they managed it lift it out of there.”

The Crimecall appeal informed viewers that close to €2,800 was stolen from the machine, along with whatever cigarettes it also contained.

The damaged machine had to be replaced, at further expense to An Siopa and the Maguire’s. The broken shell now sits outside in the side yard, with Patrick describing the cigarette machine as “honey pots” for roaming gangs targeting rural stores. “There could be thousands of euro in some of those machines. Cigarettes gone, cash gone. That’s what they want, that’s what they’re after. Easy money.”

Not including the money taken from the safe and loss of stock, Patrick estimates the damage alone caused ran into the “thousands”.

“Off the top of my head, it ran into thousands. I mean, they wrecked the place, and broke several things as well, so the total cost goes way beyond just what was stolen,” explains Patrick, who also had to close the store for a day to put things right.

He hopes that the appeal for information shared on RTÉ Crimecall appeal last Monday, October 24, will help gardaí reach a breakthrough and bring the culprits to justice.

CCTV shared on the monthly hour-long crime appeal programme showed the dark coloured Lexus 300 park beside the An Siopa at around 1:50am.

The car, believed to be operating on fake number plates, carried at least four persons, all of whom wore face coverings.

Two of the suspects cross the road and approach a telegraph pole where, it appears, they tamper with the connecting cables.

CCTV then shows the men approach the front of the shop, where one of the gang cuts the feed to a camera overlooking the front of the shop.

Inside the men gain entry to an office where the safe is located, breaking the cement around the it before using an angle-grinder to force access.

Along with what was described on the programme as a “substantial amount of cash” taken, the men made off with scratchcards and cigarettes.

Significant damage was also carried out to the cash register, photocopier, coffee machine and ATM.

Cavan Garda Inspector Declan McGarvey appeared on the Crimecall programme alongside host Sharon Ní Bheoláin.

“The car is described as a dark metallic blue Lexus 300 and we’d like to know if you saw this car in this area, in or around the 22, 23 of August, 2021. Or do you have any information about this car?” he said.

The remains “unaccounted” for at this time, and Inspt McGarvey suggested that the vehicle may have crossed over the Border into Northern Ireland, and were extending their appeal into neighbouring Fermanagh also.

The Crimecall appeal in relation to the Bawnboy burglary at An Siopa follows that in relation to a series of break-ins which were similarly featured some weeks back.

Gardaí continue to seek information in connection with break-ins at property and also vehicles in the Blacklion and Dowra areas.