'Hundreds of thousands worth of stolen equipment in Garda custody'

Hundreds of thousands of euros worth of stolen property lies unclaimed in garda stations all over Ireland, it has been revealed.

Seized vehicles and equipment recovered by gardaí, including agricultural equipment, are being stored in custody awaiting identification and collection.

One garda source told the Irish Farmers Journal that while best efforts are made to get the property back to its rightful owners, the results have been disappointing.

“The best efforts are made to attempt to repatriate stolen property, but at the end of the day uptake has been slow and results are disappointing,” they said. “At the moment, there are hundreds of thousands of euro worth of equipment being stored, awaiting identification.”

Currently listed on the garda website are hundreds of farm tools such as chainsaws, drills, angle grinders, generators, strimmers, a cattle trailer and tool sets. People who have been the victims of theft are encouraged to visit the garda website, social media and Flickr, or contact local gardaí for details if they wish to reclaim stolen property.

Another garda, Dean Kerins, advised farmers that unmarked property leaves farmers open if their property is stolen.

“One of the biggest issues we have is not being able to identify people who have property stolen because the serial number has been removed and there are no marking on the equipment or vehicle to identify it,” he said.

“We are currently working with farming organisations such as the IFA to raise awareness amongst people that marking equipment, either with their Eircode or personal details or registering to Theft Stop, can help identify stolen property if seized by the gardaí,” he continued.

Farmers have also been warned about the provenance of equipment sold at car boot sales and fairs, with one garda saying: “At the end of the day, this equipment would not be stolen if it couldn’t be sold. If people are willing to buy this stolen equipment then there will be a market for it.”

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