EXTRA GARDAÍ are being deployed on to the streets of the main business districts in Dublin in a bid to try and prevent the capital’s fastest growing crime; iPhone snatching by thieves on push bikes.
Women talking on their iPhones are being targeted on the streets as they leave work in the evening or during lunchtime. Criminals are effectively stalking them for short periods before moving in and grabbing the phones off them while cycling quickly past.
There was a surge in such thefts in May and June. When gardaí put a specialist operation in place to clamp down on the new trend, the attacks fell off for a time but are now peaking again. Blackspot areas, particularly in the IFSC, are now being patrolled more heavily.
“Even a small number of criminals could be responsible for dozens and dozens of these. The iPhones are the real hot item for them,” said one Garda source.
Gardaí investigating the thefts believe the phones are being sold for between €100 and €150 to small shops specialising in selling secondhand phones as well as phone repair and unlocking.
The phones are being wiped of all their data, making them ready for resale and almost impossible to identify. And because demand for good condition secondhand iPhones is high, some disreputable shops are taking as many phones as the thieves can supply.
The cycling criminals shadow their female victims for a number of minutes to be sure their phone is an iPhone, while waiting for the best place to rob them of it.
When the female victims are engrossed in conversation on the phone, the thieves speed up on their push bikes from behind. They cycle very closely past the women at high speed and snatch the iPhone from their victim’s hand as the iPhone is pressed to the ear mid-conversation.
In a split second the phone has been snatched and the thief is disappearing down the road or footpath.
Their choice of bicycles as getaway transport is suited to the busy city centre streets, where a bike is much faster to cut through traffic than a car and can also be used to cycle the wrong way up one-way streets or through pedestrianised areas.
Garda sources said the muggers are exclusively targeting iPhone owners because these phones are much more valuable than others and are much easier to sell on.
The same sources said women are being targeted because the thieves believe they would be less likely than male victims to give chase and because “a lot of women are wearing high heels coming from the office so they couldn’t run after you”.
“We’re seeing it now a lot in places like the IFSC and office districts on the south side of the city too,” said one source.
Gardaí have stepped up patrols and surveillance in the hotspot areas and have dispatched Garda bicycle patrols to be at the ready to pursue thieves travelling by bicycle.