Gardaí quiz 2 over theft of pensioner’s savings
The two men, both in their late 20s, were arrested yesterday after planned searches of houses in the Blarney and Fairhill areas of Cork.
Detectives from Gurranabraher Garda Station, backed up by members of the Regional Support Unit, first searched a house in the Blarney area in the afternoon. They recovered a substantial amount of cash on the premises that they believe was stolen from the pensioner.
A young father, who lives in the house but who is not from the area originally, was arrested at the scene.
Detectives then moved to search a house in Fairhill on the city’s northside where they arrested a man who lives at the address.
They also seized a car matching the description of the car used in Sunday’s incident.
Both men are being detained under Section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act and can be held for up to 24 hours. A woman is helping gardaí with their enquiries.
The Garda had issued an appeal for help after a 70-year-old man was conned out of his life savings as he was about to leave on a pilgrimage to Medjugorje.
The pensioner had withdrawn the cash — understood to be in excess of €20,000 — because he didn’t think it would be safe on deposit if the country’s economic condition worsened.
He was approached outside his home in the Sun Valley Drive area at about 6.50am by a man posing as a garda who said he believed there was going to be a robbery in the area.
The man asked the pensioner if he had any money in the house and could he mark it, so that it could be recovered in the event of a robbery.
When the pensioner produced an envelope containing the cash, the man snatched it and ran to a waiting car, which was driven off by an accomplice.
Superintendent Con Cadogan urged people not to keep substantial amounts of cash on them.
