A suspected serial armed carjacker was arrested last night after a pursuit by the Garda in two counties.
Two men were arrested after cars were stolen in quick succession in Kildare and West Dublin.
One of the suspects in custody is also being investigated for involvement in three other recent armed hijackings and Gardaí believes he has posted footage of the incidents on social media.
The first incident occurred at 9.15pm when a parked Clio was hijacked in Leixlip before being driven to Lucan where it was set on fire.
A short time later, at 10 p.m., Gardaí was alerted to another hijacking incident on Lower Main Street, in Lucan.
The driver of a Volkswagen Tiguan was threatened by two gunmen before being forced out of his car.
There were no injuries and the car drove off.
Several garda units, including a helicopter from the Air Support Unit, responded and the car was located in Leixlip a short time later.
Two men, one in their 20s and a youth, were arrested a short time later in connection with the hijacking and criminal damage incidents.
They are both being held at Ronanstown Garda Station under Section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act 1984 and can be held for up to 24 hours.
The elderly man in custody is also a suspect for several other recent hijackings and car thefts in recent weeks.
Gardaí believes the young man, who is from the Leixlip area, also posted video footage of the incidents on social media.
This includes the carjacking of a Volkswagen Tiguan that was taken from an underground car park in the Lucan area on February 6.
During the incident, the victim, in his late 70s, was punched in the face before the car was driven away and later burned out in Leixlip.
The carjacker is suspected of being involved in an incident that took place at 7.30pm last Thursday at Castlewellan Park in Celbridge, Co Kildare.
A 38-year-old woman was threatened by a thug armed with a hammer as she got out of her Kia Sonic car in front of her house.
The criminal then got into the vehicle and fled with the last vehicle seen on the M4 motorway.
No arrests have been made in this case and the vehicle has not yet been recovered.
At 8.45pm that same evening on the Estuary Roundabout near Dublin Airport, a car pulled up in front of a VW Tiguan being driven by a woman.
A male occupant got out of this car, but the woman managed to reverse and flee the crime scene before reporting the incident to Gardaí.
Meanwhile, sources say there has been an increase in hijackings and attempted hijackings in recent weeks.
“So far this year there have been 12 hijackings reported, whereas previously the average would have been maybe one or two per month, so the recent numbers are off the charts.
“The man detained in last night’s incident is a suspect in four of these cases.”
Recent figures from Garda show that the theft of vehicles has also continued to rise sharply in recent years.
More than 4,000 vehicles were reported stolen in 2022, a 52 percent increase from 2021 and a 17 percent increase from 2019.
According to Garda, this is caused by the theft of second-hand imported cars from outside the European market, possibly due to the lack of security features in the most commonly stolen imported vehicles.