€1,000 raised for children in warzones stolen in church raids

Money collected for destitute children in the Middle East was stolen by a professional criminal gang who removed a safe from a Limerick church.

The gang carried out well-organised burglaries at St Paul’s Church in Dooradoyle and St Oliver Plunkett Church, two miles away in Mungret.

They were unable to access a safe in the Mungret church but, with the use of drilling equipment, removed the safe in St Paul’s, which contained up to €1,000 in Easter offerings from parishioners for children in the war-stricken Middle East.