Gardaí in Galway investigating break-in at farm machinery company
Gardai have confirmed that a break-in took place at the Athenry, Co. Galway premises of McHale Farm Machinery this week.
According to An Garda Siochána, gardai attended the scene following a report of burglary at a business premises in the area in the early hours of Saturday, June 6.
It added that investigations are ongoing.
John Joe Cummins, manager of McHale Farm Machinery, told Agriland that a window was broken at the Athenry premises, but that no property was stolen.
“The alarm went off and they scampered,” he said.
“Most farmers are paying by card or cheque so there’s usually no money kept on the premises.”
Cummins added that the gardaí were on the premises “within a few minutes” of the incident, but that the suspects had left by that stage.
Machinery theft
In other machinery crime news, a fraud warning was issued on May 26 after the theft of a Volvo digger worth €25,000 in what has been described as a "sophisticated online scam".
The digger had been advertised for sale on an online classified marketplace, a popular platform for the sale of farm machinery and plant equipment.
It was allegedly stolen in April after Wexford-based businessman, Declan Redmond of Redmond Machinery & Motors, was targeted by fraudsters.
The sophisticated fraud allegedly used stolen company details from a legitimate organisation based in Northern Ireland, false bank transfer confirmation, and anonymous online communication.
The Volvo ECR25D mini excavator was reportedly transported over the border from Ireland to Co. Armagh where it was delivered to the alleged fraudster at a location in the Newry area.
In less than two hours, both the 'buyer' and the digger had disappeared, and Declan Redmond said he had received no payment as the bank transfer confirmation documentation turned out to be fake.
Redmond said that at the time, everything appeared legitimate and professional.
He explained: "We believed that full payment had been made and the bank transfer confirmation gave us no reason to suspect the transaction was a scam until the machine had already disappeared.
"I hope that by speaking publicly about what happened we can help prevent someone else from going through the same experience."
