Gang to face charges over €2.3m theft, abductions

Criminal charges are imminent against members of an armed gang who carried out one of the Republic's biggest robberies, it has emerged.

Gardaí have just completed a lengthy investigation into the theft of €2.3 million from a Securicor van in Dublin last March. A file on the matter has now been forwarded to the Director of Public Prosecutions.

DNA evidence taken from the chief suspects has been crosschecked with weapons and cash which were subsequently seized and which gardaí believe were used in the robbery. The DNA has also been checked with samples taken from the crime scenes linked to the robbery.

The six chief suspects are from the Coolock area of Dublin.

The money was stolen after the family of Securicor staff member Paul Richardson were held captive in their home in Raheny, Dublin, and later in a wooded area in Co Wicklow.

The robbery was the biggest in a series of attacks in Dublin on vans carrying large sums of money last year and in 2004. It was followed by a major Government overhaul of the private security and cash-in-transit industry.

Senior Garda sources have told The Irish Times that criminal charges are imminent against a group of people involved in the March robbery. The DPP's office has liaised with gardaí in the last fortnight on aspects of the Garda file as charges are finalised.

Detectives investigating the robbery initially focused on a number of known criminal gangs in the capital and surveillance was ordered on these.

Members of one of the gangs began spending the stolen money almost immediately, buying cars and expensive luxury items. This attracted closer Garda scrutiny.

One of the arrested men had bought a car for more than €40,000 for himself and a €25,000 car for his partner.

Six weeks after the March 14th robbery, gardaí arrested 24 people in Dublin and Meath for questioning in relation to the robbery. They were all arrested when more than 250 gardaí simultaneously raided almost 70 houses across Dublin city and in Ashbourne, Co Meath, at dawn on April 27th.

Detectives recovered more than €200,000 in cash, at least six luxury vehicles, plasma televisions and four firearms, including revolvers and a sawn-off shotgun.

A large quantity of cocaine and cannabis, valued at around €750,000, was also seized.

Gardaí believe the drugs had been bought with the stolen money and that the gang was in the process of establishing itself as a major player in the illicit drugs trade.

The robbery took place when members of the armed gang called to the Richardson family home at the Ashcroft estate in Raheny in Dublin on the night of March 13th.

They forced their way in after ringing the doorbell. They held Mr Richardson captive in the house all night. His wife and two teenage sons were taken to Cloon Wood near Stepaside.

Mr Richardson was told to go to work as normal the following morning to Securicor's Rialto depot. He was told by the gang that he would have to convince two colleagues that they must drive the van to the Angler's Rest pub in the Strawberry Beds, where the money was to be unloaded and taken away by waiting gang members.

He was given a picture by the gang of his family being held to help him convince his colleagues of what was unfolding.

The gang escaped with the money as planned and Mrs Richardson and her two sons, aged 17 and 13, were released unharmed in Cloon Wood.