Garda helicopter, 60 officers pursue three Cork burglary suspects

A Garda helicopter and up to 60 officers were involved in a search in Cork for three men suspected over a number of burglaries and attempted burglaries.

Gardaí were alerted when a homeowner disturbed two people attempting to break into a house on the Rochestown Road on the city’s southside at around 3pm on Thursday.

The two burglars fled to a Audi A3, which was driven by a third man. The vehicle took off at speed and rammed a Garda car that had attempted to block them in.

The Audi then drove on to the N40 at the Bloomfield interchange before turning east toward the Jack Lynch Tunnel. Just before entering the tunnel, the car drove up a service slip road and came down on the other side and headed west along the N40 pursued by a number of Garda cars.

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The suspects abandoned the car just west of the Bloomfield Junction and ran across four lanes of traffic before entering parkland at the southern end of Mahon Golf Club.

Gardaí believe the suspects – dressed in grey and green tracksuits – then made their way to Bessborough Industrial Estate, and a large number of gardaí began cordoning off the area.

Uniformed gardaí, armed detectives, armed members of the Regional Support Unit, members if the Garda Dog Handling Unit and a Garda helicopter are now searching the area.

The Audi A3 abandoned by the gang has been removed and technical experts have started a forensic examination of the car. Officers are also attempting to establish if the vehicle was stolen.

Gardaí suspect that the gang were behind a number of other attempted break-ins in Cork city today as well as break-ins around the Cork North Division area.