Suspected jewellery thieves caught by sniffer dog after dramatic car chase
The suspects were caught by gardaí after eventually fleeing on foot and jumping in a river before air and dog support led to their capture
Suspected jewellery thieves were caught by gardaí in the midlands with the help of the garda air support unit and sniffer dogs, after they abandoned their get-away car and fled on foot, with gardaí in pursuit.
The garda roads policing unit on duty in Westmeath on Monday evening received a call on radio about 5pm that a home had been broken into in the area, a large amount of jewellery had been stolen and the gang had just fled by car.
"Luckily, we had a description and model of the car and in knowing how these burglary gangs operate, we got ahead of them along the route that we knew they would take to get to the motorway to abscond from us," gardaí outlined in a social media post.
"We knew we were on the right course when members of the public began making emergency calls to report dangerous driving through a number of townlands and villages in the county. One passer-by that had seen the car, recounted to our colleague in Command and Control that they all had balaclavas on. We sat and waited for the car to eventually pass us so we could get in pursuit.
"And as sure as be told, along it came," gardaí outlined.
Having failed to stop when prompted, gardaí pursued the car on the N4 and R148 through Kinnegad until it reached Enfield where the suspects abandoned the car after a 35 minute pursuit and took off on foot.
Gardaí then called in backup from their Air Support Unit, Garda Dog Unit, and colleagues from the Mullingar Detective Unit and Trim Garda Station.
"Around 9.30pm, our excellent garda dog, Cooper put one of the detective’s on the scent and together they discovered one of the three suspects. The other two suspects were apprehended by two Trim Gardaí after the Air Support Unit guided them through thermal detection," gardaí said.
"All three had tried to evade us by jumping into the Blackwater River.
"They were arrested, returned to a garda station in Westmeath where they were given dry clothes and examined by a doctor to ensure they were all well," gardaí said.
The suspects remained detained for questioning on Tuesday afternoon.
"We are working today to return the stolen jewellery and are investigating the link between this organised burglary group and a number of break-ins," gardaí said.