Car owners in some parts of Cork are being terrorised by a gang of car thieves who are targeting certain models for parts.
That’s according to Aontú Cllr Peter O’ Donoghue who says.
“This is a very sinister development, and it appears this gang are highly professional and fearless.
I have been contacted by many constituents ,predominantly in Watergrasshill, Fermoy and Mitchelstown areas following the theft of several vehicles, mainly Skoda and Volkswagen, and it appears these are being stolen for parts to be sent off abroad. They are being sent to ‘chop shops’ here and then sent off.
Mechanics I have spoken to tell me that they scan the fobs inside houses and transfer the signal to their own scanning hubs, enabling them to steal the cars quite easily.
This seems to be the gang’s modus operandi.
What is most concerning is the blatant brazenness of this gang.
“One lady contacted me to say she been sitting at her window at 10:00pm at night and she looked up and she thought she saw a face in the window.
She mentioned it to her husband the next day and they looked at CCTV and could clearly see a man at their house holding what appeared to be a fob.
At one stage this lady went into her garden to look around and thought he was only some four feet from her, he didn’t panic.
He just sank into the shadows and went back to working on the car when the lady went back into her house.
What is quite concerning is the coolness of this man; he was in their garden for hours and CCTV footage clearly showed him holding what looked like a fob.
Naturally this incident has had a profound effect on this lady and her family, they are severely traumatised and are now very scared in their own home which they work very hard to pay for
Gardai have been absolutely fantastic and have maintained a presence in the area, which is comforting for the people involved and for others in the area who too are fearful.
I have spoken to the Chief Superintendent who is strongly advising people to be vigilant.
In the case of this lady who contacted me , thankfully the thief didn’t manage to rob the car as the woman didn’t store her key fob near the hall which is where people normally store theirs.
I would urge people to be aware of what’s going on ,be vigilant .
Please don’t store your key fobs in places that are easy for thieves to access”.
