ROLLING GANG IN MAJOR GAS HEIST
OVER 60 full gas cylinders - worth in excess of €2,000 - were stolen by three men in Meelin, Dromina and Dromcollogher in the early hours of Sunday morning last.
Brosnan's shop in Meelin was hit, where a chain was snapped and 27 gas barrels were loaded into a large blue van between 3.45 and 4am on Sunday morning.
In addition, the same gang also managed to open up a cage which contained five gas cylinders as well as a quantity of coal from Mike O'Shea's shop in Dromina. The owners discovered the cage was snapped open when they went to open the shop at 7.30am.
Watson's petrol station in Dromcollogher also had 30 gas cylinders stolen and these were all in a cage at the side of the shop.
There is also very clear CCTV footage from this raid, which shows the same long blue van and three men who were in Meelin and Dromina.
The trio also raided a garage in Ballingarry in County Limerick where they stole a quantity of motor oil.
In all they stole 62 full gas cylinders as well as coal and motor oil.
A full gas cylinder has an approximate retail value of €33.
Sergeant Dan Murphy of Newmarket Garda station said: “This was certainly a large van to take the large quantity of gas cylinders, coal and motor oil.”
He asked the public to be “wary,” about purchasing any of these goods as they could well be “suspicious sales.”
“This is a relatively new phenomenon as we have had oil and coal taken before, but equally so, we have had reports of gas cylinders also stolen,” he said.
He also asked that if any members of the public were travelling on the roads in Meelin, Dromina, Dromcollogher as well as Ballingarry to contact them 029 60002.