A spate of burglaries across East Galway in the last three weeks that had been carried out by a travelling gang were being targeted by officers working overtime to catch them.

Councillor Peter Roche asked whether there had been a pattern of burglaries identified around Monivea, Colemanstown and Ballygar in recent weeks.

“They’re being carried out in the same fashion. Breaking the back down and opening the front door to get a quick exit,” he asked at the County Joint Policing Committee meeting in Loughrea.

Detective Superintendent Shane Cummins said Gardaí had identified a trend in the last two to three weeks of break-ins from Monivea to Mountbellew, which occurred Wednesday to Saturday and usually between 3pm and 9pm.

“They are a travelling gang, but they need to have some sort of local input to identify properties. We have a dedicated plan in place, which is about high visibility.”

He said the Gardaí ran a very expensive operation over the weekend involving units from Galway, Mayo and Roscommon on overtime to mount widespread patrols targeting criminal travelling to the area.

“We didn’t effect an arrest yet but there were two reported burglaries in the last week, which is a significant drop.”

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