Written by Emer Connolly

A GANG of professional shoplifters is how Gardaí have described a group of Romanian men who stole sportsgear from a shop in Ennis.
Ennis District Court has been told that six young men carried out a ‘blitz’ of Lifestyle Sports on Parnell Street, during which three of them went upstairs and three others remained downstairs.
This happened on April 7, 2009 and as a result, four Romanian men were charged with stealing from the shop. The four – aged 19, 20, 21 and 24 – pleaded guilty at Ennis District Court on Friday.
Inspector Michael Gallagher told the court that CCTV footage, viewed by gardaí, showed six youths in the store. “They conducted a blitz of the store,” he said.
Three of the men went upstairs, while the other three stayed downstairs. He said that four of them concealed sports gear  under their clothing.
“The four defendants before the court have been identified as being responsible for the thefts,” he said.
He said that as part of the garda investigation, houses were searched and admissions were forthcoming. He said the defendants are known to gardaí and all of them have appeared in court in the past.
“The gardaí describe these four men as professional shoplifters,” he said.
The court was told that the 19-year-old is currently serving a sentence in jail.
Defence solicitor John Casey said that the four men came to Ireland a number of years ago to work. He said they travelled from Galway to Ennis on April 7 but that the incident was not well planned out.
“This looks like a very organised onslaught on the shop. It appears to indicate planning and precision. It was anything but that. They went in and stuffed t-shirt tops and tracksuits under their own clothes. Security guards were alerted. The planning was abysmal. They were going to be caught,” he said.
He said the items were not taken to be resold and were all subsequently recovered. “They stole the items to wear them themselves.
“It bears all the hallmarks of a professional gang but the planning was extremely amateurish. They would have been immediately picked out on the CCTV,” he said.
However Inspector Gallagher said, “I can’t agree that this wasn’t professional shoplifting.” He said that in the aftermath of the clothing being taken, staff in the shop discovered that 20 tags had been removed from the various items.
“They removed the tags. That’s a sign of professional shoplifting,” said Inspector Gallagher.
Judge Timothy Lucey fined one of the men €600 and fined another €400.
He imposed a six-month jail term on another of the men – who had eight previous convictions – but suspended this for a year. He imposed a six-month detention sentence of the defendant who is currently serving a sentence.