Search for M7 burglary gang that wreaks havoc on villages
Electronic and vaping stores are main targets in ‘relentless’ crime spree
A VIOLENT burglary gang is wreaking havoc along the M7 motorway, ‘hitting almost every village’ off each exit in the southwest of the country in recent weeks, the Irish Mail on Sunday has learned.
The gang is mostly targeting electronic and vaping stores and their ‘default position’ is to drive the wrong way down the motorway when gardaí give chase.
There have also been a number of incidents in which tyres on patrol cars were slashed as the gang made their getaway in stolen high-speed cars.
Sources said the gang is based in the southwest and has links to an Irish burglary gang who were involved in a
‘This crew has hit almost every village off the M7’
‘relentless’ campaign of burglaries in the English midlands before they were jailed in the UK last month.
Four Irish men – Jason MacDonaugh, Darren O’Halloran, Barney Casey and Daniel Harty – were convicted of conspiracy to burgle after they were caught with €350,000 worth of stolen jewellery and cash.
Earlier this week, MacDonaugh’s solicitor told a court in Birmingham that his client – who was jailed for 13 years for playing a ‘leading role’ in the gang – was unable to ‘support himself in the workplace’ because of the ‘disadvantages of being born into an Irish Traveller family’.
A source said intelligence suggests a person with links to the UK burglary gang is ‘a significant figure here’.
They added there has been ‘a marked increase’ in incidents in which gang members ‘arrange to meet people selling high-powered cars on DoneDeal before stealing them using force’.
To evade capture, the gang has driven the wrong way down the motorway, assuming gardaí are unlikely to follow them. Sources said the criminals are exploiting the case of the garda who is facing charges after he followed a gang the wrong way down the N7 in 2021.
This chase ended with the deaths of three prolific burglars when they smashed into an oncoming truck.
One source said: ‘Gardaí are immediately stood down by the control room once this detail is conveyed. They know gardaí will not follow.
‘This crew has hit almost every village off the motorway exit. Some nights they could
be in Tipperary carrying out a burglary and 20 to 40 minutes later they are in another county doing another job.’
The source said gardaí ‘have got behind’ the gang members in pursuit on a number of occasions, but their Hyundai Kona squad car ‘doesn’t stand a chance against the souped-up Audis’ that are used by the thieves.
They added: ‘If we tail, they immediately go over to the wrong side of the motorway.’
In the last week of August, the gang is suspected of targeting a computer shop in Mitchelstown, Co. Cork just after 2am. And by 3.15am they were in Templemore, Co. Tipperary, breaking into a phone and vaping store.
In Mitchelstown, they attempted to gain entry to the shop with an angle-grinder. When this failed they smashed the window. The person who reported the burglary to gardaí was hit with a hammer when he tried to intervene.
A black Audi suspected of being used by the gang was found on fire by gardaí near Bruree in Co. Limerick shortly after 4am.
A week prior to this, in the early hours of August 17, the gang is suspected of carrying out a spate of burglaries around Adare, Co. Limerick, where they slashed the tyres of a parked patrol car to make their getaway easier. The gang first ransacked a Centra shop in Foynes, Co. Limerick, then two pubs in Adare, and 45 minutes later, a Vodafone shop in nearby Newcastle West.
Two days earlier, on August 15, a local unmarked Garda car had its tyres slashed while investigating another two break-ins in Adare.
An Audi linked to these incidents was later found burnt out.
On August 10, the same gang is suspected of carrying out a burglary at Corrib Oil in Ennis, Co. Clare at 1.10am. Just 55 minutes later, three phone and vaping shops over the county border in Thurles, Co. Tipperary, were targeted.
A source said of the gang’s modus operandi: ‘These guys are after the products. They take phones and electronic accessories and vapes, and if there is a safe in the store they’ll take that. Gardaí have recovered safes that were forced open and later dumped. They have been relentless in recent weeks and local business people are on their guard.’
‘If we tail they go on the wrong side of motorway’