Gardaí and the PSNI were last night searching for a three-man gang which went on a day-long cross-Border crime spree on Thursday during which the men hijacked seven vehicles, crashing three of them.
One female driver was assaulted by the men as her car was being hijacked, while another 81-year-old woman was badly injured by the gang. A male driver had a noose put around his neck.
A Garda helicopter was called in to search for the gang along the Border throughout Thursday. However, the men were still at large last night.
The dramatic events began north of the Border at Trassey Road, Newcastle, Co Down, when a silver VW Vento was set alight at about 4am on Thursday.
About an hour later at a caravan park at Tollymore Forest, Newcastle, three men entered a caravan and assaulted a man sleeping inside. They took his car keys and left with his silver Vauxhall Astra.
Their movements for the remainder of the morning are unknown.
However, at 12.30pm their vehicle was in a collision with a Seat Alhambra on the Newtownhamilton to Belleek road. The crash brought traffic on the road to a standstill.
The men got out of their crashed car and ran towards a VW Polo and attempted to hijack it. However, the young woman driving it, who is in her 20s, managed to lock the doors and speed from the scene.
The three men then ran to another car, a VW Sharan. They forced the female driver, in her 30s, out of the car with her young child. But as the men tried to escape, a truck driver pulled his vehicle across the road and forced the car into the ditch.
The car turned over but the men climbed from the vehicle and targeted another motorist trapped in the congestion.
They forced this man, who was in his 60s, to drive them in his black Renault Laguna to Dundalk. They put a noose around his neck before getting out of the car at Daws Corner, Dundalk.
About an hour later, at 3pm, they approached a woman sitting in a car outside a shop on Castletown Road, Dundalk, forcing her from the vehicle. They left the scene at speed but less than a mile later they crashed the car on the outskirts of Dundalk.
An 81-year-old woman passing in a silver Nissan Micra stopped her car on the road and went to check if the men were hurt. However, as she was getting out of her vehicle she was pulled from it by the men, badly injuring her leg as it became entangled in the seatbelt.
The Micra was driven back over the Border and at about 5pm was observed by the PSNI being driven erratically in Newry. It was later abandoned in the middle of the Warrenpoint Road in Newry.
A female motorist stopped at the scene at 9.40pm to check if the men were in difficulty. As she did she was assaulted and her red Seat Leon was taken. It was located in Rathfarnham, Dublin, last night.
The 81-year-old woman remained in hospital last night. She was first taken to hospital in Dundalk but was last night transferred to St James's Hospital, Dublin. She was being treated for a serious flesh wound on her left leg.
Supt Jim Sheridan of Dundalk Garda station said it was unclear why the men were in the Co Down area, where the incident began. Two of the men were described as being in their early 20s. One was in his late teens and wore an orange striped top.
Chief Supt Bobby Hunniford, police commander for Newry and Mourne District, said the men's actions had traumatised the victims.
He said the men smelled strongly of alcohol and that a large quantity of alcohol was found in one of the vehicles.
"Words just cannot describe the harm these men have caused to people across the various communities here," he said.
Anybody with information is asked to contact gardaí in Dundalk on 042-9388440. The PSNI can be contacted at Ardmore on 0044 845 600 8000.
Newry and Armagh Sinn Féin councillor Jimmy McCreesh visited the woman whose vehicle was almost stolen with her child in the back. The gang tried to snatch her vehicle after the crash on the Newtownhamilton to Belleek road and after failing to hijack another car, he said.
"Her main concern was the fact that she had got her two-year-old child strapped into the back of the people-carrier.
"She struggled with the guys to try to fob them off but she was unable to do so. They proceeded in dragging her out of the vehicle on to the ground.
"She was screaming and shouting for help and then somebody else came along and she was able to get the young child out of the vehicle."
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