This is the moment two suspected thieves are caught on camera in the middle of what is believed to be the theft of the catalytic converter from a car in Saggart.
Footage captured on a neighbour's security system shows a white van pulling up beside the car in the early hours of Tuesday morning in Millrace View in the west Dublin village.
The car can then be seen shaking from side to side as the men crouch down under it.
On the same night in nearby Citywest, a resident had the catalytic converter from his car stolen for the second time in the space of five months.
The disgusted car owner told Dublin Live he has been forced to spend almost €1,000 replacing the vital part.
A garda spokesman told Dublin Live they were investigating the thefts.
Last week, Dubliners were warned that thieves were targeting catalytic converters due to the valuable metal contained in them, how easy they are to steal and their lack of identification.
A catalytic converter is an exhaust emission control device which reduces toxic gases and pollutants into less-toxic pollutants by catalyzing a redox reaction.
It contains several metals including small amounts of rhodium which is like platnium. This type of metal is very rare and valuable.
Recent thefts of this kind have shown that thieves seem to be more inclined to cut catalytic converters from Toyotas.
There have been several reported catalytic converter thefts involving Toyotas in recent weeks with the Prius being the most popular target.
A garda spokesman told Dublin Live: "These are being stolen for their high value metal and are expensive to replace.
"The catalytic converter is the exhaust emission control device which is attached to the exhaust on the under body of the vehicle.
"While all vehicle models can be targeted, thieves are particularly targeting older model Hybrid cars.
"The thieves can jack up a car and the theft only takes a few minutes to complete.
"A lot of these thefts occur in broad daylight and sometimes in public car parks."
