08/09/2010

Tiger Robbery Suspects 'Still Held'

It has emerged today that two of the five men arrested for questioning over the robbery on the AIB in Clondalkin, west Dublin and in Kildare on Saturday are still being questioned.

They are being quizzed in connection with the robbery of almost €300,000 and abduction of a bank manager's wife last Thursday.

Gardaí said two are still being held at Rathmines Garda station and Terenure Garda station. The men are being detained under Section 50 of the Criminal Justice Act and can be held for up to seven days without charge.

Three other men arrested at the weekend were released without charge on Monday evening and a file sent to the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP).

Gardaí believe the men arrested at the weekend were trying to hide and launder the proceeds of the raid when they were detained.

About €50,000 of the estimated €290,000 stolen has been recovered. Gardaí are continuing a forensic search of a house in Kilcock, Co Kildare, and are hopeful more money may be found.

Detectives almost caught some of the men while the robbery was still under way last Thursday. They had at least one of them under close surveillance when the stolen money was being handed over by the AIB Clondalkin bank manager to secure his wife's release.

The other members of the group continued to hold the woman at a quarry near Enniskerry in Co Wicklow for well over an hour after the cash was collected. Armed Garda surveillance teams did not move in and arrest their target until the bank manager's wife was released safely and, by the time word reached gardaí at 12.45pm on Thursday that the woman had been freed, the gang members who had been under surveillance were gone.

The ordeal began at 11pm on Wednesday last when three raiders, at least one of whom was armed with a shotgun, entered the home of the bank manager and his wife at Domville Drive, Templeogue, south Dublin.

They kept the couple in the house overnight. In the early hours, the woman was driven away by the gang while her husband was ordered to go to work and get cash for the gang.

He then drove his car, with a bag of money, to the Cherrywood estate near the Clondalkin bank branch at 10.30am, and left it unlocked, as instructed.

Gardaí kept the car under surveillance but did not move in on some of the gang members when they arrived because the bank manager’s wife had not yet been freed.

Despite the men escaping, detectives were very confident that they knew the identity of the gang.

(BMcC/KMcA)

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