Irish security firms were experiencing an upsurge in calls from worried business people following a spate of tiger kidnappings aimed at post offices and small businesses, and were introducing new technology to counter a highly mobile gang using signal-jamming devices to block alarms and break into premises.
Thousands of alarm systems in banks, post offices, shops, ATMs, houses and apartments were at risk from mobile-phone jamming devices that could be bought online for less than €15. The jammers come into use once a gang cuts the landline between the alarm and the monitoring station: the alarm should then signal over the mobile network, but with a jammer switched on beforehand that signal is blocked.
ADA, the Cork security firm, said it was experiencing an upsurge in enquiries from business people frightened by the trend in tiger kidnappings for smaller amounts of money and by the spreading use of jammers.
“There has been a big increase in small business people worried about these small-time tiger kidnapper gangs, asking us to upgrade their home security. These are not people with access to large amounts of cash. These are people with small businesses that handle cash and are worried for their families.”
ADA, which holds contracts with the gardaí, responded by installing systems that get around the jammers: the mobile alarm units are programmed to send a “polling” signal every few minutes, and when a signal fails to arrive the monitoring station is alerted and carries out checks, notifying gardaí where it becomes suspicious.
By Jim Cusack. Published in the Irish Independent, 14 August 2011.