This article is from page 3 of the 2006-12-05 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 3 JPG
GARDAÍ are investigating a weekend break-in to Doonbeg post office in which up to €40,000 was stolen.
The raid – the fourth post office robbery in the county over the past 12 months – is being linked to a break-in to a Carrigaholt business premises and the theft of a cattle trailer in Doonbeg, at various stages over the weekend.
Entry to the post office was gained via a back window and the thieves made away with the safe containing the cash. The incident occurred between Saturday evening and Monday morning.
An aluminium cattle trailer was taken from the Kilrush Road in Doonbeg, while equipment, including a trolley jack, angle grinder and sledge hammer, along with a small sum of cash, was taken from a business in Carrigaholt.
According to gardaí, the possibility that the equipment from the Carrigaholt business was used to lift the post office safe into the stolen trailer is being investigated.
“We are not ruling out the possibility that the three crimes might be linked. We are very anxious to locate the cattle trailer. It is a double axle trailer, with a white top, and has ‘Doonbeg Limousines’ written on top,” said a Garda source.
This was the fourth post office raid since November 2005, in a worrying trend which has concerned gardaí and postmasters across the county.
Some €37,000 was stolen from Broadford post office on November 8, 2005. The robbery is believed to have involved several “travelling criminals”.
A large safe, containing the cash, was stolen from the premises. It was later found in an old disused school near Flagmount. Gardaí believe a cattlebox stolen from a farmyard near Cutteen Cross, Tulla, may have been used to transport the safe. A post office in Clarina, Limerick, was also raided around the same time.
Whitegate post office was targeted on January 25 last, when a woman in her forties was tied up and locked in the bathroom of her home, adjacent to the post office.
Three intruders, wearing balaclavas and carrying a baseball bat, broke into her home before tying her up, at around 3.20am. She remained tied up until another family member arrived on the premises shortly after 8am.
The men fled with what gardaí are describing as “a very small sum” of cash, after they failed to gain entry to the safe.
Some €37,000 was stolen in a raid on Liscannor post office, on Thursday, August 10 last. A horse box that was used was later found in Kilaneena. No-one has been charged in relation to any of the robberies.
“All post office safes have time locks and it is important to use them,” said a Garda spokesman.