Gardai in Wexford are investigating three possible abduction attempts over the past 12 days, two of them involving children.
A silver car was used in all three incidents but it is not known if they are connected, said Sgt P.J. Murphy of New Ross station, where the investigation is being co-ordinated.
In the first incident on March 3rd, an eight-year-old girl and a boy aged six were playing in the front garden of a house at Haresmeade, Foulksmills, when a car pulled into the driveway and the male driver got out.
While the boy hid the man tried to persuade the girl to get into the car. When she refused he became irate and called her names, said Sgt Murphy. The girl ran into her home and the man left the scene.
In the second incident on Monday last, a woman was accosted by a man at 9.30 a.m. on a rural road between Terrerath and Cassagh, after a car pulled up beside her. The man grabbed her about the waist and the woman fell but managed to flee. A second man remained in the car during the incident.
Yesterday at about 12.40 p.m. a car pulled up beside a primary school at Ballycullane, in south Wexford. A man, who may have been alone, got out of the car and asked two girls, aged 10 and 11, to get in. The girls refused and he left. The man wore a green hat or cap and a long black coat and waistcoat, the girls told gardai.