Fed up with roaming gangs stealing their Christmas trees, farmers and police in Ireland have turned to smartphones and helicopter patrols to ensure they can keep delivering festive cheer to customers. In mountainous County Wicklow, south of Dublin, growers faced a crisis four years ago, with up to 2,000 trees a year being stolen, costing them up to 100,000 euros ($110,000) in lost revenue. "One of the growers around here was tied up and robbed at gunpoint so a few of the local growers went to the local police to do something," said Christy Kavanagh, a Christmas tree farmer in the small town of Newtownmountkennedy.
