Reports of burglaries in the Newtownbutler and Roslea area have been reported, as did a series of break-ins understood to have taken place in the Clones area last Wednesday, all reportedly between 3.30pm – 6pm. 

It is believed that a silver/grey Audi with a southern registration may have been involved. Authorities on both sides of the border are seeking information in relation to suspicious activity. 

Community alert pages on social media were quick to share details of the suspected crimes in a bid to alert others. 

Newtownbutler Councillor Thomas O’Reilly remarked that Police and Garda have a “very good working relationship”. 

He continued, “They can alert each other to any travelling gangs moving around and try to get ahead of them to stop them at some point. They move very fast and change number plates and so forth to try and make themselves as invisible as possible. 

“The key there is that people are vigilant and if they see anything suspicious, a strange car or anything moving about that they report that and try to give the greatest opportunity to stop this as these people are preying on the most vulnerable in our society and devastating lives.” 

Cllr O’Reilly acknowledged that there is a theory that crimes such as these are being carried out by travelling criminals.

“This seems to be a modus operandi of a criminal gang going around robbing three, four or five houses in a day. This is not your burglar walking about or opportunism, this is targeting dedicated to ransacking people’s houses.

“There have been over seven houses done in a cross-border geographic area. The theory is that there are ones travelling from all over the country to do this. But, regardless where they are coming from isn’t the important bit – this is about devastating peoples lives and it doesn’t matter who it is. If you’re robbing people and traumatising them the impact is still the same.”