By ELOISE WALTON
SILVES RESIDENTS have been plagued by a bout of burglaries that appear to be targeting secluded properties belonging to foreign owners.
Debbie Bodkin, a British resident from Vila Fria, near Silves, said on Monday: “I have just got home to find that I have been burgled again.”
She added that the burglars had entered her property by smashing the back door and stole a television and camera.
“This is the fourth time that we have been targeted since November 2007,” she added.
Her husband, William Bodkin, said: “When the GNR arrived, they took fingerprints and even agreed to visit the house of a suspect, but unfortunately the person was not in.”
Another British resident, Carol Scales, told The Resident: “My house was burgled in broad daylight recently while I was out at the market.”
She said that the burglars managed to enter the house, despite the presence of two dogs, by smashing a window.
“They didn’t steal much of value, just items like my GameBoy, some loose change, a digital camera and jewellery,” she said. “I know of several neighbours whose homes have been burgled also.”
According to Carol Scales, the GNR were very friendly when they came to her property and said that they had some suspects.
“I put it down to experience and probably won’t be installing an alarm system because I would end up paying more for security than my possessions are actually worth,” she said.
Vandalism
Another Silves resident, Malcolm Mauger, told The Resident: “I have been burgled three times in two and a half years. I suspect it’s children because they only stole small items and our above-ground swimming pool was slashed with scissors and flower and crisps were scattered around the lounge, among other acts of vandalism.”
Despite the incident, Malcolm Mauger said that the GNR in Silves were “absolutely amazing” and told him they were hoping to catch the criminals with pin code information from his stolen mobile phone that he had given them.
Dra. Cecilia DeSaint, who was interpreting for a British couple at the GNR station in Silves on November 11, said: “On the day I went to the station, their little room was full of British people who had been burgled.
“It is very unfortunate that the police have to work from a very small room in the stables and even conduct some enquiries outside, because their station is in very poor condition.”
A spokesman from the GNR told The Resident: “Robberies are like drugs, they affect everybody in the community.”
Another spokesman added: “We are very understaffed and only have two officers on patrol at one time for the whole of Silves.”
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