Mullingar Gardai are continuing their investigation into a spate of raids carried out on business premises in the county, a number of which they believe to be connected.
Armed raiders tied up a number of people during a robbery at Gunning’s pub, Mullingar, in the early hours of Tuesday morning. Two men, wearing balaclavas and armed with a handgun and a baseball bat, entered the premises at 12.20am. They tied up the owner and a number of customers before making their getaway with a sum of cash.
The incident follows a succession of occurrences since last weekend. Sgt Kieran Williams of Mullingar Garda Station said there had been “a number of similar types of burglaries throughout the Midlands in the past week”.
In the early hours of Saturday morning, March 7, a licensed premises on the Dublin Road was broken into. Gardai believe four individuals were involved, who made an unsuccessful attempt to remove a safe from the premises. A small amount of cash was taken.
Also on Saturday, at approximately 9.10pm, a robbery occurred at a filling station in Castlepollard. Two raiders, one carrying a handgun, entered the premises and threatened staff, but were challenged by the owner and left with nothing. They made their escape in a dark coloured car.
The following morning, Sunday, between 2.30 and 6am, extensive damage was done to a business premises on the Dublin Road. Attempts were made to open a safe using cutting equipment, which failed. A sum of cash was taken, and it is thought the perpetrators were on the premises for a considerable amount of time.
And in the early hours of Tuesday this week, a business premises on Main Street, Kinnegad was broken into. A large quantity of cigarettes and a sum of cash were taken.
Anyone with information on any of the above incidents is asked to contact Mullingar Garda Station at (044 ) 9384000.
