An "aggressive" girl led gang assaulted and robbed an elderly man at a Dublin shopping centre on Saturday morning using a very simple 'ketchup trick'.
The man - who is in his 70s and wanted to remain anonymous - was set upon by the group of three at Artane Castle where one of the trio approached him putting ketchup on his jacket.
After placing the ketchup, the same person alerted the pensioner and pretended to help him clean it off.
Caught off guard and thinking that he was receiving a random act of kindness from a member of the public, two of the other thugs came over and stole his wallet.
He described the two men and one woman attackers as "aggressive" and was so worried that they may have known him.
Thankfully, the elderly man's wallet was recovered a short time later but he was understandably shaken following the ordeal.
In a statement to Dublin Live, a spokeswoman for Gardai said: "We can confirm that we attended the scene of a robbery at a shopping centre on Kilmore Road, Artane on Saturday morning at approximately 11am."
