Three men held at scene of attempted cash van robbery

Gardaí are continuing to question three Dublin men who were arrested at the scene of an attempted security van robbery in west Dublin on Monday.

The men, from Finglas and Cabra, were detained by a team of 15 armed detectives in the car-park of the Spa Hotel in Lucan where the van had been due to make a delivery.

The men, one is his 20s, another in his 30s and another in his 40s, were driving a stolen Mitsubishi Spacewagon car.

Detectives found a shotgun in the car along with hammers, CS spray and balaclavas.

The three are being held at Garda stations in Lucan, Ronanstown and Ballyfermot under Section 30 of the Offences Against the State Act.

Gardaí investigating a spate of raids on security vans in recent months were questioning the men last night and intend to continue today.

Their arrests came as part of a continuing Garda investigation, Operation Delivery, set up last year to try to tackle the rising number of armed robberies on security vans delivering money to ATMs.

A Securicor van was hijacked recently at the Strawberry Beds near the Phoenix Park in Dublin.

A Brinks Allied van was hijacked in Artane when the crew made an unscheduled stop for coffee.

From today Securicor begins the roll-out of a new security system for the delivery of cash to ATM machines.

The new system involves money being put into a small case called a cassette.

Cassettes of money are then stored and transported in strong boxes.

The money only comes out of the cassette when it is slotted into the safe at the back of an ATM.

If the cassette or strong box is tampered with in any way, chemicals in the cassette and dye in the strong box will degrade the money, rendering it worthless.

Currently money is only protected in a dye box when it is being carried from a cash van to a delivery point.

It means the cash in the back of a van is not protected in any way as it is being driven around.