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Farmers around the Meath-Cavan border have seen their Toyota Land Cruisers targeted in overnight thefts with a number of vehicles reported stolen.
In the last two months, six Toyota Land Cruisers have been reported stolen from a 10km area in north Meath. In two of the cases, a second car was stolen from the same property.
Speaking to the Irish Farmers Journal, one of the farmers who had a vehicle stolen said: “In my case, they broke the lock on the back door, came inside and found two sets of keys that were hidden.
“My daughter woke up to the sound of the engines starting but when I got to the front door there was just enough time to see them drive out the gate,” he said.
Break-ins
In a number of the other cases, the keys to the Land Cruisers were stolen following a break-in to the house late at night.
“There is a certain amount of trauma for my family. When everything settles down and you feel like you are secure in your own home something like this does affect how you sleep at night. The people responsible for this have no respect for others,” the farmer said.
A spokesperson for Navan gardaí said: “We have seen Land Cruisers targeted in Meath and Louth before in previous years and they are rarely recovered.”
The spokesperson added that in most cases where a vehicle was taken it would turn up the following day or within a week. In the last three months, there have been 19 reported vehicle thefts and all bar four have been recovered – three Land Cruisers and a Volkswagen Tiguan.
They have appealed for anyone with information on the vehicles to contact them or the garda confidential line on 1800 666 111.
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