Hijackings And Attempted Hijackings, Lurgan
01 Apr 2009
Detectives in Lurgan are appealing for information and for community assistance following a number of hijackings and attempted hijackings on Monday night, 30 March, and during the early hours of Tuesday morning, 31 March.
A total of seven attempted hijackings and hijackings in the Lurgan area were reported to police between 4.15pm on Monday, 30 March and 1.10am on Tuesday morning, 31 March. These hi-jackings were directed at community services in the area, targeting Northern Ireland Electricty, NI Water Service, Royal Mail, Amey Motorway Services, the RAC and local businesses.
Three vehicles were hijacked - one at Deramore Drive around 4.15pm, one at Victoria Street at 5.25pm and one at Lough Road at 1.10am. Two of these vehicle have since been recovered.
Attempted hijackings were made on vehicles at Ennis Close at 5.50pm, North Street at 7.30pm, Antrim Road at 8.15pm and Victoria Street at 8.20pm.
Between two and four masked males were involved in all of these incidents. In one incident local residents came to the assistance of a post man, and fought of the would be hi-jackers. Police are very keen to hear from those members of the community who came to the post man's assistance.
In another of these incidents males attempted to hi-jack a vehicle, containing a four year old boy who was travelling with his father.
A male who attempted to hijack a vehicle at Victoria Street around 8.20pm is believed to have been injured as a result of being thrown from the vehicle. Anyone who may have seen this male is asked to contact police.
Area Commander Chief Inspector Jason Murphy said: "These incidents caused disruption across Lurgan to local community services and also to motorway users as a section of the M1 had to be closed following the discovery of one of the hijacked vehicles. This type of behaviour only creates tension within the community and also causes great distress to those people who are innocently caught up in these incidents. The victims in these cases were persons going about their daily work, working within,and for the benefit of, the community .
"We would ask all communities to assist us in tackling this behaviour and bring any information, no matter how small it may seem, to our attention."
Police would also appeal to anyone who witnessed any of these incidents or anyone who has information in relation to them to contact them on 0845 600 8000. Information about crime can also be passed anonymously to the Crimestoppers charity on 0800 555 111.
