A MAN is in Garda custody after he was disarmed and arrested by two unarmed gardaí during a botched raid on a pub in the early hours of yesterday morning.
A loaded shotgun was seized by gardaí after the alleged attack at The Village Pub, Chapelizod, west Dublin, just before 1am yesterday morning.
Staff members and a number of customers were still on the premises when they said a man armed with a shotgun entered the pub and demanded money.
One of the pub's co-owners Gary Gorevan said his brother was in the pub with their bar manager when he spotted a man with a gun standing in the beer garden at the rear of the premises.
Mr Gorevan said his brother ran into the pub and shouted at the others that there was an armed man out the back.
"He ran to the front door and outside to get away from the guy and when he got outside there just happened to be a woman on her mobile phone. He grabbed the phone off her and dialled 999. There was a Garda car there within a minute or two."
Mr Gorevan said when the gardaí arrived the front door of the pub had slammed shut and was locked from the inside meaning the officers, who are based in Ballyfermot, had no way of gaining access to the premises.
They made their way through a neighbouring house and scaled a 20ft wall in the back garden into the pub beer garden.
As they were doing this the gunman, armed with a double-barrelled shotgun, had forced the bar manager to empty the till behind the bar. He had then taken the manager to a cash room in the pub and demand he open a safe.
When gardaí arrived they tackled the gunman as he was standing over the bar manager at the safe with the loaded gun. When the gunman saw the gardaí he pointed the shotgun at them.
"It was incredible," said Mr Gorevan.
"There was absolutely no hesitation from them, they just tackled him instantly and pinned him down with no regard for the danger they were under.
"I really couldn't praise them highly enough. It was great that the whole incident passed off without anyone being injured. The guy with the gun was very agitated and aggressive throughout the whole thing."
The incident was captured on the pub's CCTV. The gunman was not masked.
By the time the uniformed members had arrested the man armed Garda back-up had arrived outside the pub. The arrested man was taken for questioning to Ballyfermot Garda station.
He was still being questioned last night under section 30 of The Offences Against The State Act and is expected to appear before the courts as early as today.