Galway Bay fm newsroom - Burglaries in Galway city have increased by more than a fifth.
According to the latest garda figures, which were presented at a meeting of the City Joint Policing Committee this week (25/9), there were 196 burglaries recorded since the start of the year, compared to 162 for the same period last year
While general burglaries in the city have increased by 21 percent, theft from cars and from people have seen a drop in the first eight months of the year.
Chief Superintendent of Galway Garda Division, Tom Curley says there has been a dramatic increase in the theft of smartphones, which jumped by almost 40 per cent.
He says many house burglaries involve the theft of cash and jewellery, which is often carried out by drug addicts.
However, mobile phone thefts from nightclubs and pubs are usually carried out by groups of organised criminals who can come from as far away as Cork to blitz the city on a given night.
Chief Superintendent Curley said that nationally, 2.5 million euro worth of phones were stolen last year.
