A woman abducted from her home was returned to her family last night after a large Garda manhunt in the southeast. A gang armed with slash hooks and pickaxe handles abducted the woman from her home on the Carlow-Laois border in the early hours of yesterday.
Two men were arrested in connection with the incident and others are being sought.
Gardaí alerted seaports fearing the kidnapped woman might have been taken by boat to England by her captors. However, detectives believed she was being held in or around Tramore, Co Waterford. Last night officers from Carlow and Tramore stations entered a rented premises in Tramore and located the 47-year-old woman.
She was safe and well and was returned to her family. One man in his 50s and another in his 20s were arrested and were being detained at Carlow Garda station under the provisions of Section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act.
Garda sources told The Irish Timesthey had been worried for the safety of the victim, Nelly Doran.
They said she had been "abducted forcibly" and was being held against her will. Mrs Doran was taken from her home at Graiguecullen, Co Laois, close to Carlow town, at about 4am yesterday morning by a gang of six men, at least some of whom are known to her. She was able to telephone her family to assure them she was safe but was said to be too afraid to reveal the location where she was being held.
Mrs Doran had been living in the UK for many years. Following the break-up of her marriage there she returned to Ireland and has been living in the area for some time. The mother-of-seven, who is a settled Traveller, has been staying with her extended family at the farmhouse from where she was taken about one mile from Carlow town.
Miley Doran, the woman's 84-year-old father, told The Irish Timesthat six men had kicked in the door of the house at 4am. He thought he was "going to be robbed and killed".
Sixteen people, including four children, were woken by the disturbance and threatened by the men who, Mr Doran said, carried "pickaxe handles and slash hooks". Some of the men went into Mrs Doran's room and dragged her from bed. They forced her into a white Ford Transit van and sped away. Some of the gang are understood to have left the scene in a second white van. Mr Doran said last night he feared his daughter might have been killed.
Detectives spent much yesterday at the Doran family home interviewing the missing woman's relatives. A full technical examination was carried out on the house. Gardaí said the family was part of a well-known settled Traveller community in the area. The detached house, with a farmyard, is surrounded by housing estates under construction.