Thieves speed away with €64,000 boat

A €64,000 speedboat imported from the US was stolen by thieves from the banks of the River Shannon.

The Supra Launch 22 SSV boat — the only one of its kind in Ireland or Britain — was snatched from the Marina in Banagher, Co Offaly, yesterday morning. The limited edition wakeboarding competition vessel is blue and black in colour with a drawing of the World Globe on the side. The word Supra is also printed in white on it.

At 22.6ft long, the boat was mounted on a custom-built trailer with four 18-inch alloys with stainless steel mudguards.

The trailer had been attached to a 4x4 at the rear of a workshop next to the river and reconnected to the getaway vehicle which fled the scene towards Co Galway.

Gardaí in Banagher are anxious to speak to anyone who may have seen a white Transit van in the area at about 4.30am.

Owned by Silver Line Cruisers, the 2008 registered vessel was imported in January and was for sale.

The company, which is located on the banks of the Shannon between Lough Ree and Lough Derg, hires cruisers and is the sole Irish distributor of Supra and Moomba performance inboard wakeboard and waterski tow boats.

Staff believe opportunistic thieves took the vessel unaware that it was a limited edition.

“It is doubtful the boat was taken for order, because anybody within the wakeboarding circle would know it’s the only one of its kind in the country,” said a spokesman.

“We sell other boats similar to it, but, even if we put this next to them, it stands out.”