Cigarette Gang suspected of service station raid

GARDAÍ believe that members of the infamous ‘Cigarette Gang’ could have been behind a raid on a service station shop during which its manager and a newspaper delivery man were locked in a container for nearly 30 minutes.

At approximately 3am yesterday five members of the gang, who were all dressed in dark clothes and wearing balaclavas, cut ESB cables near Keary’s service station in Mallow, disabling alarms in the vicinity.

They then cut the barrier to the station’s forecourt and smashed down the door of the shop and Supermac’s restaurant.

A restaurant manager was inside at the time and was held by the gang.

Moments later an Irish Examiner delivery van arrived at the scene. The driver got out to deliver newspapers but saw the men and tried to get away from them.

One of the gang smashed a side window of the van with a sledgehammer and dragged the driver out. Both he and the manager were then locked in a container at the rear of the building.

“The gang then proceeded to use saws to break into the safe. But a lorry driver who later pulled up nearby saw what was going on and immediately phoned the gardaí. As a patrol car sped to the scene the raiders fled. They took nothing from the safe,” a garda spokesman said.

Gardaí heard the men call for help and freed them from the container.

“They were not harmed, but they were obviously shocked by the ordeal,” the spokesman added.

The raiders are believed to have fled in the direction of Limerick in a blue Volvo. “They didn’t appear to have been armed, but they were very big men,” the garda spokesman said.

Gardaí believe the same gang were responsible for disabling all the alarms systems in Buttevant’s main street during the early hours of last Wednesday morning. Some time before 4am they cut ESB cables at either end of the town and broke into the post office.

Gardaí got a report about suspicious activity and went to the scene. However, the raiders fled with a small amount of cash before they arrived. They fit the description of the gang who carried out the Mallow raid, but this time they escaped in what is believed to have been a Seat Leon.

The spokesman said that they believe the gang were also responsible for similar recent raid in Newmarket where alarms were cut at the SuperValu supermarket and a large quantity of cigarettes were stolen. Again a Seat Leon was used in this raid.

Gardaí are anxious to hear from anybody who may have information about the latest incidents and are appealing to business owners and members of the public to keep an eye out for the gang.

Anybody with information is asked to contact Mallow Garda Station at (022) 21105.