Mobiles worth €10,000 stolen

GARDAÍ are hunting thieves who stole more than €10,000 worth of mobile phones after entering a shopping centre through a rooftop.

The raiders entered the Market Green shopping centre in Midleton, Co Cork, through a skylight in the early hours of last Sunday.

They then broke into the E-Mobile shop and stole some expensive appliances.

Gardaí said the thieves stole a total of 33 phones of various makes.

They were five Cobbleo mobiles, five Galaxy SII, one HTC Wildfire S, four Galaxy minis, three Blackberry 8520s, one Blackberry 99-100, four Nokia C3-01, seven Sony Eriksson X8, two Nokia C1-01, one Samsung Chat 370 along with one Nokia 2220.

A garda spokesman said they believe the thieves entered the building sometime between 3am and 4.30am.

“Some of the mobile phones they stole had a value of up to €700,” a garda spokesman said.

He said they believe the thieves will try and sell the phones at knockdown prices for the Christmas market.

Garda forensic experts were yesterday carrying out a full technical examination of the scene, while detectives were looking at CCTV footage in the hope of identifying the thieves.

“We are anxious to hear from anybody who passed by the shopping centre during those times and who saw anything suspicious.”

The spokesman said that gardaí would also like to hear from anybody who may be offered such phones from unusual sources at a knockdown price.

* Anybody with information about the theft is asked to contact Midleton Garda Station at 021 4621550.