A new network video CCTV install was praised by an Irish businessman for helping to foil a kidnap plot and identifying the men involved. Masked men were seen to congregate outside Mairtin Kelly’s business premises in the town of Donegal, and this was reported to the police by a member of the public. Mr Kelly was then informed of the incident and the potential attempt to commit a ‘tiger kidnapping’. Well known in Ireland, tiger kidnapping involves taking people hostage to extort cash or valuables.
Once he arrived at the office, Mr Kelly was able to access footage from his digital CCTV, an Axis Q1604 network camera, pictured, and Mirasys recording. The Q1604 gave images of the men’s faces from distance, at night, plus shots of the men putting the masks on and licence plate numbers of their vehicle.
Having recognised the vehicle and faces of the men in the CCTV, police drove to Mr Kelly’s house where – on July 10 – they intercepted a group of men not far from Mr Kelly’s home.
Speaking after the incident, Mr Kelly said: “In today’s economic climate, the number of tiger kidnappings in Ireland is increasing at an alarming rate, but I never expected that I would be targeted like this. The CCTV system had only been installed by Multisys from Galway 24 hours before the incident, but I’m extremely thankful it was. The footage played a pivotal role not only in identifying the gang, but preventing them from
carrying out their plans. It was so easy to find the relevant bits of footage for the police using the Mirasys system, and the quality of footage was remarkable especially considering it was in the middle of the night.”
Phil Doyle, regional director, Northern Europe, at Axis Communications said: “These criminals are becoming much more sophisticated in their approach and methodology, making it increasingly difficult to identify those responsible.
“Axis has made considerable investment in its products to combat these issues and provide business owners and prominent members of the community with greater peace of mind. Cameras such as the AXIS Q1604 have fantastic
clarity and range even in adverse conditions making it much harder for these gangs to perpetrate their crimes and get away with it.” The Irish CCTV installer and Axis Gold Partner, Multisys fitted the prodcuts.
For more about Axis Communications visit www.axis.com.
About Multisys
Multisys adds that it specialises in data analytics so users can integrate real-time trends into their business modeling, decision-making and security
protocols. For more information – visit www.multisys.ie
