Three men being pursued by gardaí following an alleged burglary in a rural part of Co. Westmeath yesterday (Tuesday, February 27) jumped into a river in a bid to avoid being arrested.
The men, suspected of being part of an “organised burglary group”, had been pursued by officers for 35 minutes before they abandoned the car they were in and jumped into the River Blackwater.
The group, who are all aged in their 20s, were subsequently arrested by gardaí.
They have been charged and are due to appear before Athlone District Court this morning.
Gardaí
In a post on social media, gardaí said that officers from the Westmeath Roads Policing Unit received a call around 5:00p.m yesterday that a home in the Ballynacargy area had been broken into.
It was reported that a large amount of jewellery had been stolen and the gang had fled the scene 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.
“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,” the social media post continued.
River
After the car failed to stop, gardaí pursued the vehicle for 35 minutes along the N4 and R148 through Kinnegad until they reached Enfield. At that stage the men abandoned the car and “took off on foot”.
“We called in backup from our 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 detectives 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.
“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,” the post stated.
Gardaí added that they were working to return the stolen jewellery to its owners.
In a further statement, gardaí confirmed that the men have since been charged and are due to appear Athlone District Court this morning.
They added that investigations into the incident are ongoing.