Seventeen catalytic converters stolen in county Tipperary over 48 hour period last week

Seventeen catalytic converters were stolen in county Tipperary over a 48 hour period last week with criminals plundering the devices because of the precious metals they contain and black market for their resale.
Eleven of the exhaust emission control devices were stolen from two car dismantlers yards in the Clonmel area while cars in Clonmel, Newcastle, Clogheen and Emly were also among those robbed of catalytic converters during the spree of thefts between last Wednesday night and last Friday.
Chief Superintendent Derek Smart spoke about this wave of thefts when two TDs and a councillor raised the crime problem with him at Tipperary County Council’s Joint Policing Committee last Friday.
He told The Nationalist investigations are ongoing in relation to the thefts of the 17 catalytic converters and gardaí can’t rule out the possibility it was carried out by the same crime gang.
He said a number of organised crime gangs across the country are involved in the theft of catalytic converters.
The Joint Policing Committee meeting that took place online heard catalytic converters are popular with criminals because of the precious metals in them. The most sought after metal is Palladium, which is currently more valuable than gold.
Chief Supt. Smart confirmed to local politicians that catalytic converter thefts were a “huge issue” at the moment but highlighted some breakthroughs in Garda investigations into these crimes.
He said three people were arrested in neighbouring county Limerick last Friday in connection with the attempted theft of a catalytic converter from a car at Murroe. They were subsequently charged and appeared before Ennis District Court last Saturday.
There was also a high profile detection of €2.2m worth of stolen and smelted catalytic converters in Dublin last month. And a man was recently arrested and charged after three stolen catalytic convertors were found in his possession in Thurles.
Chief Supt Smart agreed with Sinn Fein TD Martin Browne and Cllr Marie Murphy from Clogheen that the convertors were targeted because they contain precious metals, which are stripped from the device, melted down and sold on. There was also a resale market for the devices, which are worth about €300 each.
Older model cars such as Toyota Yaris’ and Honda Civics were the main targets of the criminals engaging in these crimes.
He appealed to car owners to ensure their vehicles are locked and secure. If possible, he advised people to park their vehicles away from public view as criminals visit communities to identify the cars to target before returning to steal the converters.
Fine Gael Cllr Marie Murphy told the meeting the theft of a catalytic converter from a car in Clogheen village in the early hours of last Thursday was filmed on CCTV. The theft just took five minutes.
“It was just the brazeness of how it was done. It happened around 1am and the car was parked in front of the house. The dog didn’t even bark. The residents didn’t hear anything,” she said.
She said while the car was old and of little value to sell on, it was NCT approved and was invaluable to its owners, who need it for their job and to travel around.
Cllr Murphy joined with deputy Browne and Independent TD Mattie McGrath in asking if any preventative measures can be taken in relation to stolen catalytic converters being sold to scrap yards.
Deputy McGrath pointed out catalytic converters were stolen from cars in his home village of Newcastle last Thursday night and said people bringing these devices to scrap yards should be required to produce their PPS or VAT numbers.
“Something should be done to stop this. The catalytic converter stolen from a car is often more expensive than the car,” he pointed out.
Chief Supt. Smart responded that the Gardaí are actively engaging with reputable scrap yards in relation to this but unfortunately a lot of the stolen catalytic converters weren’t going to reputable dealers.
He was surprised it took as long as five minutes for the catalytic converter to be taken from the car in Clogheen as it could take as little as two minutes to steal these devices. Criminals used a battery saw to cut the converters out of a car.
Meanwhile, gardaí are investigating whether the occupants of an Audi A3 car are linked to the theft of
catalytic converters from two cars in Newcastle and the car Clogheen in the early hours of last Thursday. A Cahir Garda Station spokesman appealed to anyone who saw such a car acting suspiciously around both villages that night to contact the station at (052) 7441222.