Gardaí have responded to an incident in Tallaght on Friday night.
It appears that a digger was used to break into a branch of Lidl in Fortunestown, with footage emerging on social media of a safe being removed from the premises.
https://twitter.com/rogieop/status/969675001795358721
This looks like a safe pic.twitter.com/dNpwexctaJ
— heavetarf (@HeavetarfFrank) March 2, 2018
A Garda spokesperson has confirmed to JOE that a number of arrests have been made.
“We’re aware of a number of incidents in the Citywest/Jobstown/Tallaght district,” he said, adding that “some arrests have been made,” though a precise number is currently unavailable.
“The investigation is ongoing,” the spokesperson concluded.
Reports of a fire breaking out at the Lidl have been confirmed to be false, after the Dublin Fire Brigade arrived at the scene.
We've left the scene of the supermarket in #Fortunestown #CityWest , no fire found. Gardai are attending the incident pic.twitter.com/BO5SzOASNd
— Dublin Fire Brigade (@DubFireBrigade) March 2, 2018
A video being widely shared on social media showed several young men driving a digger from the location.
Another showed construction machinery being used to break down the roof of the building.
Footage was also being shared from inside the supermarket – with some individuals seemingly trying to break into the store’s safe.
One person who say they witnessed the looting stated that the supermarket was getting “smashed up.” Another said it was being “emptied”.
One man highlighted that in his 15 years living in Dublin, it was only the second incidence of looting that he’d been aware of – the first being the Love Ulster riots in 2006.
In a statement issued this evening, Lidl said:
“We are aware of the very serious incident at our Fortunestown Lane store this evening.
“As the store was closed when the incident occurred this evening, we can confirm no member of our team has been injured.
“Given that the incident is now the subject of a criminal investigation we are not in a position to comment further at this time.”
Please see below statement in relation to the incident at our branch at Fortunestown Lane, Dublin pic.twitter.com/jl8PD57Vcx
— Lidl Ireland (@lidl_ireland) March 2, 2018
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