ENNISCORTHY GARDAÍ have issued a warning to shoppers in the locality to avoid leaving their handbag’s unattended in supermarket carparks, even for a second, following a rise in the amount of handbags being snatched by opportunistic thieves.
This follows the latest in a line of similar thefts at various supermarkets around the county, this one taking place at Aldi in Enniscorthy on Saturday afternoon. The victim took to Facebook to voice her distress following the incident, which took place shortly after 2 p.m. and said that the whole thing happened in “a matter of seconds” with the thieves lifting her handbag from her shopping trolley while she had her back turned.
A spokesman for Enniscorthy Gardaí said that there is a growing trend for this type of theft and it is something that the public should be on the lookout for.
“This is something that is happening all over the county at the moment,” the spokesman said. “Women are bringing their shopping to the car and they might turn their back and leave their handbag in the trolley or throw their bag in the boot while they return their trolley. Then when they come back, they find that their bag has been lifted. It’s something we would like to make the public aware of and we would ask that they don’t leave handbags etc unattended and take all precautions possible. Unfortunately CCTV cameras don’t always stretch to supermarket car parks either, so it’s important to be aware.”
The spokesman was also keen to stress that incidents of this nature were not limited to one supermarket in particular and that they had had similar reports from various different supermarkets around the county.
The victim of the latest one of these thefts on Friday said that her handbag was later handed into Aldi nearly three hours later, however, her mobile phone and purse were not present. Following her Facebook appeal, her purse was later handed into Enniscorthy Garda Station yesterday, minus the cash, however, she said she was just happy to have it returned and said she had learned a valuable lesson.
Aldi in Enniscorthy where the latest handbag theft took place.