{"id":190354,"date":"2025-12-18T17:56:09","date_gmt":"2025-12-18T17:56:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/190354\/"},"modified":"2025-12-18T17:56:09","modified_gmt":"2025-12-18T17:56:09","slug":"belfast-householders-warned-over-open-invitation-to-thieves-as-delivery-parcels-stolen-from-doorsteps-the-irish-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/190354\/","title":{"rendered":"Belfast householders warned over \u2018open invitation\u2019 to thieves as delivery parcels stolen from doorsteps \u2013 The Irish News"},"content":{"rendered":"

Belfast residents are being urged to be vigilant over parcels and packages left on doorsteps after reports they were being stolen shortly after being delivered.<\/p>\n

A councillor in the north of the city<\/a> has warned that in one case this week, a woman had goods worth around \u00a3200 in parcels stolen from outside her property.<\/p>\n

Police have now urged householders to take extra steps to protect their parcels ahead of Christmas<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Independent councillor Paul McCusker told the Irish News: \u201cI\u2019ve been contacted by a number of people in relation to this, so I would urge people to be aware of the risks of parcels being left outside.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Tensions<\/a>\"Northern<\/a><\/p>\n

He said locals had warned of thieves following delivery vans in order to target homes, while in another case a woman was seen making off with parcels in a large holdall.<\/p>\n

\u201cGiven the time of year, a lot of these items will be Christmas presents for people, and families already are facing so much pressure, especially financial pressure, and this has the potential to cause a lot of frustration and distress,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cMore awareness of this issue is needed, and I hope that police can do what they can to prevent these crimes.\u201d<\/p>\n

A PSNI<\/a> spokesperson said they were investigating a report of several parcels stolen from the front door of a property in the city\u2019s Mountainview Gardens area.<\/p>\n

\u201cTwo men with their hoods up were observed taking the packages and running from the scene,\u201d they said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the run up to Christmas we would advise people to ensure any presents are well hidden from view – criminals<\/a> are well aware people will already be stocking up on presents.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf parcels are stolen from your property, please report this to us so we can investigate. A report to us can often help with your claim for a refund or replacement \u2013 even if the stolen goods are not recovered.<\/p>\n

\u201cLikewise, if you are out doing your Christmas shopping make sure your packages are not left in full view in the back seat of the car or somewhere visible. <\/p>\n

\u201cThis is an open invitation to passing criminals to help themselves to your property. Ideally, you should go straight home and hide the gifts in a safe place.\u201d<\/p>\n

They added: \u201cOur enquiries are ongoing in relation to the reported theft in north Belfast – anyone with information or who observed suspicious behaviour, is asked to contact police on 101, quoting reference number 408 18\/12\/25.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Belfast residents are being urged to be vigilant over parcels and packages left on doorsteps after reports they…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":190355,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[18399,6147,156,111,139,105094,69,119099,437],"class_list":["post-190354","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tv","tag-christmas","tag-crime","tag-entertainment","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-north-belfast","tag-nz","tag-psni","tag-tv"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/190354","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=190354"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/190354\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/190355"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=190354"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=190354"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=190354"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}