GARDAI in Westport are investigating a burglary at Mulranny Post Office during the early hours of Sunday night/Monday morning in which a safe was taken. Both the front and inside doors of the premises, owned by Martin Hanley, were forced during the incident and the safe, which contained a quantity of cash and cheques, was prised from the floor. The burglary wasn’t discovered until just before 8.00am on Monday morning. It is not known what time the burglary took place during the night, since neither the Hanley family or their dog were awoken by any disturbance. A car trailer was also taken from nearby premises which it is suspected the thieves may have used to transport the safe from the Post Office. A trolley was also taken from outside Daly’s supermarket in Mulranny on the night. Members of the Gardai carried out door-to-door enquiries on Monday and are appealing for witnesses. The site office of the old Great Southern hotel development was also broken into on Sunday night.

A CRIME of an unusual character was perpetrated in Castlebar recently when a crucifix was taken from the church at St. Mary’s Hospital, Castlebar. According to Fr. Paddy Curran, PP, the golden coloured crucifix was removed from behind the altar last Sunday week, sometime after Sunday Mass and before the church was closed that evening. The incident wasn’t reported to the Gardai until Monday of this week in the hope that the crucifix, approximately 18 inches in length, would turn up somewhere or be recovered in the meantime. It’s not the first time that a "religious theft" of this kind has taken place in Castlebar. A number of years ago a figure of the infant Jesus was taken from Breaffy Church. It was never recovered. A wooden altar was also removed from a Connemara church a number of years ago and subsequently used to make kitchen unit