Gardai investigate almost 20 burglaries in one week
HOMES, BUSINESSES AND COMMUNITY CENTRE TARGETED
GARDAI in Drogheda are investigating almost 20 burglaries which took place in the Drogheda area over the past week.
A number of business premises and local organisations were targeted in these breakins, including The Brown Hound, Fusion Nightclub, Holcroft Motors and Drogheda Community Centre.
Both the bakery in Bryanstown and Holcroft Motors, Matthews Lane, were targeted in the early hours of Saturday, January 28. Gardaí were alerted to the break-in at The Brown Hound shortly after 3 a.m. after they received calls from local residents in the area who heard glass smashing and the alarming going off.
A small amount of cash was taken from a till and the night safe was tampered with but not opened. Gardaí are examining CCTV footage from the area.
Holcroft Motors was broken into between 4 a.m. and 4.30 a.m. when a rock was put through a window. The offices and presses in the building were ransacked during the burglary but it remains unclear whether anything was taken.
Healy TV in Bredin Court was broken into at around 3.30 a.m. the following morning. Two playstation 2s and an amount of cash was taken from the premises after the culprit gained entry through a skylight. One man was arrested in connection with the incident on Tuesday morning.
Gardaí are also investigating a break-in at Fusion Nightclub on Monday morning. The owner of the premises arrived on site at around 10.30 a.m. and found a man inside the building. The owner contacted gardaí who found the man hiding on the premises. He then took off on foot and was pursued by gardaí who eventually caught up with him on Narrow West Street.
He had a screwdriver and a number of other implements in his possession as well as a bottle of vodka which had been taken from the premises.
Drogheda Community Services Centre on Scarlet Street was broken into in the early hours of Sunday, January 29. The culprit gained entry through a window at the front of the centre but could not gain entry to the office as the door was locked.
A number of homes in the Drogheda area were also targeted during the week including a house in the Spires on Tuesday morning where the keys to a vehicle were stolen and a van was taken from outside the house, as well as homes in Rathmullen, Matson Lodge, Oakwood Park, Westcourt and Mayfield.
Meanwhile, amphetamines worth an estimated €10,500 were seized during a planned search of a premises on Marley's Lane last Tuesday in a joint operation between customs and gardaí.
- FIONA MAGENNIS
