Man had jeep stolen after going to meet woman he met online in Dundalk car park

The Clanbrassil Centre car park where the incident took place

 

Gardaí are investigating an incident in Dundalk in which a man was the victim of a car jacking having gone to meet a woman he had met online.

The 28-year-old, who is from the area, had arranged to meet the woman at the Clanbrassil Centre car park at the Long Walk in the early hours of Tuesday morning.

However, as he was waiting for her a man approached him with a knife before demanding his wallet and the keys to his jeep. The victim then had to show the thief how to start the vehicle as it was an automatic.

The thief said he needed to go to Ardee but was from Drogheda.

The shaken man arrived at Dundalk Garda Station at 4am on Tuesday to report the incident.

Fortunately his vehicle was later recovered in the Oakland Park estate in Dundalk.

Gardaí have advised caution for anyone arranging to meet up with someone they have met online.

4×4 owners warned about thefts

 

Owners of jeeps and 4x4s are being warned that a gang is currently operating in the Louth area at present, stealing catalytic converters from the vehicles for their plutonium content.

The issue has been ongoing for a couple of months now but has stepped up in recent days with Dundalk IT amongst the areas hit.

Dundalk FM presenter Pairic Duffy issued the above warning on his Twitter page and warned that the catalytic converters were “expensive to repair” but easy to steal.