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Police in Belgium and Ireland are investigating Irish criminals at the centre of Europe-wide machinery theft ring.
A number of the criminals are known associates of Irish gangster Cyril McGuinness and they appear to have taken up the reins of his operation since his death on 8 November 2019.
A Europe-wide investigation in 2009 called Operation Segund concluded in the arrest and conviction of McGuinness and his associate Damian McPhillips.
After the arrest, tractor thefts fell by up to half, with gardaí expecting similar results after the death of McGuinness, also known as Dublin Jimmy, this year.
Under Operation Macrups, police have issued a European arrest warrant for Damian McPhillips’ brother Noel McPhillips.
The head of Cumela, a Dutch machinery contractors’ association, Janneke Wijnia-Lemstra, estimates that up to €2.1m worth of machinery has been stolen from her members. She stated that criminals particularly target expensive GPS systems.
Although plant and tractors have also been stolen, the smaller, high-value GPS systems are easier for criminals to transport. In July, several GPS units that were stolen in the Netherlands were discovered for sale on a UK Ebay account.
Irish criminals
Wijnia-Lemstra told the Irish Farmers Journal she believes that Irish criminals were behind the thefts and said she had reported the matter to the Dutch police and requested they make contact with Irish authorities.
Police in Limburg, a province in The Netherlands, confirmed they were aware of Irish criminal elements involved in machinery thefts.
“Usually tractors are targeted during summer months when they have been left outside overnight after working in the fields,” a spokesperson for the Limburg police said.
He said criminals were becoming more sophisticated and aimed to steal software and GPS systems.
“Criminals try to deactivate the system or hide the GPS somewhere where it could be jammed.
“The biggest issue is that farmers’ sense of safety is gone and they can be difficult to catch and convict because they move so quickly.”
The Limburg province is the most southerly part of the Netherlands. It is a small narrow land area sandwiched between Belgium and Germany with over 350km of border with foreign countries, making it an ideal location for criminals to engage in cross-border trade.
Irish machinery dealers have not escaped either. In May this year, thieves stole up to €160,000 worth of GPS equipment in a single weekend from dealers and farmyards.
“You’re busting yourself to keep people in a job and then something like this happens. I’m just devastated and so are the staff. I feel like I’ve been stabbed through the heart,” managing director Ian Timmons of Meath Farm Machinery told the Irish Farmers Journal.
While it is not known if the May GPS thefts are linked to the European machinery ring, the robbery occurred over a weekend in a blitz-style, calculated attack, with clear organised crime elements.
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