Two held after gardai recover coins

Two men were last night being detained at Kilmainham Garda station following the recovery of a large sum of cash which was stolen…

Two men were last night being detained at Kilmainham Garda station following the recovery of a large sum of cash which was stolen from a charity on Friday.

Gardaí also recovered a valuable consignment of computer games and consoles which may have been stolen from an industrial estate in Wicklow more than a week ago.

The two men were arrested in Walkinstown, Dublin, early yesterday morning in connection with the seizures.

More than €100,000 worth of pound and sterling coins were stolen in the armed raid of the Pennies from Heaven lock-up in Clancy Barracks, Islandbridge. A couple of hundred bags were retrieved by gardaí but it was too early to say if all the money was recovered.

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About €71,000 (£56,000) of the stolen money was in pound coins and could have been gradually exchanged in the Central Bank without detection.

Gardaí also recovered a large quantity of computer games and PlayStations which may be linked with a raid on a factory unit in Kilcoole, Co Wicklow, the weekend before last.

A Garda spokesman said the arrests were made "as part of an ongoing investigation".

Both men were being held under Section 30 of the Offences Against the State Act.

They can be held for 72 hours before they have to be released or charged.

Pennies From Heaven was set up in 1999 to collect Irish currency around the time of the euro changeover.

More than €7 million was raised in the initiative and will go to 11 charities including Focus Ireland, Barnardo's, Concern and the Irish Cancer Society.

The stolen coins were one of the last such batches of donations to be counted and bagged.

Alison Healy

Alison Healy

Alison Healy is a contributor to The Irish Times