Dundalk hijackings, another suspect charged

A 23-year-old man has been charged in connection with a day-long cross-border hijacking spree by a gang last month. The man, arrested in London at the weekend and escorted to Belfast, faces a total of 16 charges including robbery, hijacking, theft, assaulting police and making threats to kill. He is due to appear at Armagh Magistrates' Court later today.
A second man, arrested in London at the same time, has been released on bail pending further inquiries.A 31-year-old man has already appeared in court and been remanded in custody on nine charges related to the same incidents.Over several hours, a series of cars were stolen in Co Down and Co Armagh on 14 September. An elderly man had a rope tied around his neck by a gang who forced him to drive them across the border to Dundalk in Co Louth.
Earlier, a young mother fought with assailants when they tried to take her car with her young child still in the back. The crime spree began when a man, who had fallen asleep in a caravan at a woodland site in the foothills of the Mourne Mountains, was assaulted and had his car stolen.
Gardaí believe the same gang - branded 'highwaymen' by local politicians - was also behind a later hijacking of a car from an 81-year-old woman who suffered a serious leg injury when she was dragged from her vehicle.