Military gang steals millions in boat parts

[lenseman]

A GANG of military-trained Eastern Europeans has stolen millions of euros worth of outboard engines and marine equipment here and in Northern Ireland over the past three years.

The highly-expert squad, believed to be from the eastern Baltic states, has carried out night-time raids on marinas, suppliers and harbours across Ireland and have yet to be arrested.

The gang has reconnaissance, engineering and logistic skills which gardai believe came from military training. They even carried out overnight robberies during last December's big freeze.

They have carried out operations in which over €100,000 worth of outboard engines and equipment have been taken.

In two raids in Northern Ireland they took 40 outboards from yacht clubs in overnight raids in Co Down.

They are also stealing to order, marine sources say. Last year they took a gearbox from a 175hp outboard in Wexford but left the engine, even though the complete outboard was worth €20,000.

Two weeks ago, they were caught on CCTV as they arrived in two people carriers in the middle of the night at Bullock Harbour in south Dublin, swam out to boats and took away all the petrol containers they could find.

The marine petrol cans cost about €75 each and they left all the mainly low-powered outboard engines alone.

Marinas on the Shannon have been badly hit, with one supplier forced to close last year after having €100,000 worth of outboards and equipment stolen.

In Bullock Harbour last week, Western Marine chandlers were preparing to repair a rigid inflatable when they discovered it had an outboard engine, worth €10,000, previously stolen in Cavan.

In May, the gang used a rigid inflatable dinghy to steal five outboards from boats moored in Skerries. Five days earlier, three rigid inflatable boats and their engines were taken from a house in Greystones, Co Wicklow.

Last month they broke into the Alsaa sports complex near Dublin Airport and stole the Aer Lingus Aqua Club's large rigid inflatable along with a 150hp engine worth €50,000.

More than 1,500 outboard engines, ranging in cost from a few thousand to €20,000, have been recorded stolen in Northern Ireland.

It is not known how many have been stolen in the Republic -- though industry sources say it definitely runs into thousands.

Marine insurance sources say the losses in the Republic in the past three years have run to millions. The industry is having to hike its premiums and owners are hit as engines that have depreciated in value generally have to be replaced by new ones.

Bob Killen of Killen Marine in Dalkey, south Dublin, said he had "many customers" who had outboard engines stolen or knew of thefts.

"They have taken engines and the control box. They did not just cut the wires they were careful to have everything complete. They know what they are doing," he said.

- JIM CUSACK

Originally published in The Sunday Independent

http://www.independent.ie/national-news/military-gang-steals-millions-in-boat-parts-2841934.html

 

[savageseadog]

The obvious question then, why not in the rest of the UK?

 

[kesh]

are they related to the similar goings on in the S or SW (i forget which) a few years back?

 

[Tintin]

send them all back to where they come from and ALL not just a few.

Another racist post from this prat.


EDIT: Mods removed his racist ramblings. Thx. I take it all back.

 

[Clyde_Wanderer]

Outboard stolen at Millport.

Last sat eve between 1900-2215.
From a tender at the steps at Millport pier.
They lifted the transom up the steps, undone ob and must have made up the steps with it as they had blocked their passage back down the steps with the tender.
It is a balck Suzuki 2.5hp 4stk aprox 2yrs old and in very good condition.
We are following some lines of enquirey, regarding a certain boat which was tied next to the tenders, and will be checking cctv footage of that area.
C_W

 

[toad]

The east coast was done two years ago, probably are turn again next year.

 

[First Mate Julie]

Outboard theft is now happening in the UK too

It would seem that operations have now moved to the South Coast of the UK.

In June 2011 our outboard was stolen off the back of our yacht (where it was attached), outside the house in the yacht basin at Port Solent Marina.- Since then we know of two other yachts in the same basin who have had outboards stolen - so make sure yours is not vulnerable too - wherever your boat is moored. Don't make theft easy for the thieves

 

[eelric87]

I have to agree - why just N.Ireland and not anywhere else in the UK? Guess if it is working for them then why change area. Times like this you wish we had more sharks on our coast...eat these guys up haha

 

[Firestone]

Stolen Gear.

Recently there were reports about outboards, fishing gear,etc..,being stolen and vehicles parked around the shore and once secluded inlets of the area of lough Cong,Ireland, being broken into and still no arrests. Legislation is currently too weak to deal with these parasites.

 

[Cardo]

What's the best way to avoid a small O/B being stolen, aside from taking it home and putting it under your pillow?

I read not long ago that in circumstances where the O/B's were secured to pushpits/transoms with locks, thieves were simply cutting through the pushpit/transom causing considerable damage.

 

[Ben Dockrell 22]

From the marinas point of view when they are a large business this was totally avoidable, they have the money to secure thier marinas they did not have to leave thier customers so vunerable. it would cost a lot to make them effectively secure but at least their customers could slowly develope a degree of genuine confidence.

One outboard costs £50.000 ???? i was amazed.

When the marinas get their act sorted out it will do much to secure our coastlines from smugglers,illigal immigration and terrorism.

All entrances including from the sea should be walled and manned 24 / 7. anyone coming and going should have id. Their should be enough appriopiately trained men on the ground to deal with any violent robbery attempts.


Compulsory rfid chipping of any item worth more than a few hundred pounds, also of medical equpment and firearms.


Places of confinement would make it easier when a suspect/s is caught enabling a small nunber of men to keep watch on them while the rest can get back to thier posts


Large rewards should be offered for information leading to successful prosecutions.


Cheaper insurance for marinas that meet requirements.

 

[tony_lavelle]

How to deter outboard thefts

I have belatedly concluded that the best and easiest solution is to take the cowl home. Leave an upside-down bag on the motor to keep the rain off. Thieves cannot easily replace the cowl so the motor has no market value to them.

The Essex police marine unit sells special covers for this purpose but you could use any bag of the right size.

An alternative is to paint the motor a horrible colour. However I can't bring myself to do this.

 

[watermint]

west wales - has had Stolen boats and gear Stolen from boats and boat yard , and it seems close to Ireland to take Stolen boats and gear ,


i do think a lot of Stolen stuff gows to Ireland and then down the Mediterranean and then to Poland and most probley evrey wher alse ?

thay do say Ireland in the most esey way to get stuff out of the Country ?

 

[viago]

not even the slightest attempt to explain the premise that the offenders are eastern europeans.
i do believe there is another source of para-military trained personnel who are twiddling their thumbs throughout "little britain".

 

[David56Butch]

I see this thread was started in 2011. Be assured this gang are (or was) still very active. Two or three weeks ago a planned operation took place at Rockley Park, Poole. January is the month when no one is allowed to sleep in the caravans. The security guard was off sick and replaced with a stand-in. Their van came to the back of the yard, they cut down bushes and laid them on the soft ground, wood on top of them. Dismantled the fence, drove the van in and stole high value engines with estimates ranging from £80k to £100k. The good news is that Norfolk Police arrested two men (E Europe) with I believe all the engines.

Will that be the end? I doubt it. BUT a plea to all boat owners, please invest in a marking kit, SelectaDNA, Smartwater, DataTag and I guess there are others on the market. I also find places to engrave my post code, both on boat and equipment. Does it prevent theft??? Certainly we have proved in Poole that it is a deterrent but there is another reason. Unless you can prove that the recovered engine belongs to you, there is a danger that the item has to be returned to the thief, even if they are convicted of the theft of other items.

PS I'm not a sales person for any of the products, not a Police Officer, but I do run Poole Harbour Watch, a Neighbourhood Watch scheme for the harbour.

 

[Sandyman]

And the worst of the Europeans are yet to arrive.
Will the crime rate go up then ? Of course not

 

[Daydream believer]

For those who are concerned about trailers( i know this thread is mainly engines so apologies)
When i bought my trailer i had my name & postcode written in the metal with a welder in 6 places then galvanised
If they grind the name flat it is still etched into the steel below & ruins the galvanising
One of the names is on the underside of the trailer & may go undetected
I have loads of photos of the trailer as evidence of ownership
Incidentally my mother ( who had a lot of valuable jewelry etc) paid a prof photographer photo everything she had in the house then lodged the photos at the bank. May be worth photo'ing every part of ones boat, particularly any alterations that you have made that are non standard. All helps to prove ownership

 

[philip_stevens]

If you photograph everything, put it in a registered envelope and post it back to yourself as proof of ownership with date sent. Do not open it unless/until you need it as proof. Then open it only in front of police.

 

[lenseman]

. . . . . Incidentally my mother ( who had a lot of valuable jewelry etc) paid a prof photographer photo everything she had in the house then lodged the photos at the bank. . . . . . .

To use photographs as evidence in Court, you have to do a number of things. I spend 25 years doing photographs for Crown Court and in the photograph I had to include the date, a forensic ruler so that size can be calculated and my initials with the words "Exhibit 1/DSW" or something similar.

That was in the days of Roll Film (XPS 160). Today with digital prints, you would need to shoot in RAW which has the EXIF data embedded and you would need to save these RAW photographs to DVD for record keeping purposes.

If you do not have these details recorded, a defense barrister could easily case doubts on whether the prints you are offering are valid.



.