Thieves used new high tech 'jammers' in Tesco raid

Thieves who broke into Castlepollard’s Tesco Express on Sunday night used sophisticated “jamming” devices to block mobile phone coverage in the area around the store - and they cut all the landlines into the building, the Westmeath Examiner has learned this week.In addition, they shut down cctv cameras in the area, leaving themselves free to break through security doors and into the premises.But despite spending what may have been three hours trying to gain access to the store’s strong-room, the gang is understood to have left empty-handed.It is believed the gang fled out of fear they were about to be detected, as they left the jamming devices, as well as crowbars, and other tools of their trade behind them. It is the first time the GMSM signal blocker devices have been used in Westmeath, although they were used in a burglary in Portlaoise earlier this year.The attempted break-in is believed to have occurred at around 1 a.m., when at least four people wearing balaclavas got up on the roof and put in place the jamming devices, using a car battery to provide power for them. The jamming devices had the effect of disabling not just mobile phone signals, but also the signal from the store’s alarm system.However, when the car battery ran out of power, the alarm did send a signal, and it is understood that at around 4 a.m., the burglars fled, believing they were about to be rumbled.Gardaí in Castlepollard are appealing to the public to contact them on 9661112 if they noticed anything suspicious in the Church Street area, or around the Tesco, any time from around 10 p.m. on Sunday night - when Tesco closed for the day - and 4 a.m. on Monday morning.No Garda StationIt is the eighth significant break-in in Castlepollard this year, following on from the attempted removal of a bank atm machine from the Bank of Ireland on the Square, and in just one night break-ins at six shops close to where Tesco is located. The complex is owned by auctioneer Pat Davitt, and Mullingar businessman, Paul O’Brennan, who say the list of break-ins proves again that Castlepollard should have been chosen over Delvin as the location for a 24-hour Garda sub-division office.The two say they had offered to provide new sub-division offices, fully fitted out, rent-free, in return for a guaranteed twenty year commitment from the Gardaí, but the decision was made instead to locate the offices in Delvin.“I personally handed the Minister for Justice details of a place where they could operate from: a premises in the shopping centre, fully fitted out to the last pencil, with a rent-free period, on condition that they would take a long lease, but instead, a quarter of a million was spent in Delvin,” said Mr. O’Brennan, a former president of Mullingar Chamber of Commerce, adding that there are a lot more businesses in Castlepollard than in Delvin.The premises amounted to 1,000 square feet at ground floor level, and up to 4,000 square feet at first floor, revealed Pat Davitt who says that the number of crimes committed at business premises in the area shows clearly that Castlepollard needs a 24-hour a day Garda station.