€200,000 stolen as housemate of bank worker held hostage

THE RAID in which more than €200,000 was stolen from AIB by an armed gang unfolded over a 12-hour period during which time one man was held at gunpoint in a car.

The incident began at about 1.30am yesterday when three gang members broke into a house at the Deerpark residential development in Kiltipper, Tallaght, west Dublin.

A 21-year-old bank employee who works at AIB’s branch at Crumlin Cross in southwest Dublin was in the rented house at the time with a male housemate.

The bank worker was told his housemate was being taken away and would be harmed unless a substantial sum of money was taken from AIB and surrendered to the gang.

At least two of the three men who broke into the house were armed with handguns.

The men stayed at the property for almost two hours during which time they gave the young bank worker specific instructions to follow if he wanted his friend to be released unharmed.

He was ordered to go to work as normal yesterday morning. He was given a mobile phone by the gang and told they would contact him with further instructions.

He was also given a bag for the money he was ordered to take.

The gang left the Deerpark property at 3.30am with the bank worker’s housemate. Gardaí believe they drove away in a car, possibly a VW Passat.

At about 11.30am the bank worker was contacted by the gang via the mobile phone. He was told to take the bag full of money and to get into his car and await another call.

When contacted again he was given directions to a number of locations around west Dublin before being directed to a location close to the Red Cow roundabout. It was there that he surrendered the money to the gang.

At about 1.30pm the man being held hostage was released by his captors from a vehicle at the junction of Drumnigh Road and Moyne Road, Portmarnock, north Dublin.

He had not been harmed but gardaí said both men at the centre of the incident have been left traumatised. The man held hostage contacted gardaí in Coolock immediately after he was released.

It is unclear if the bank worker or anybody else at AIB had contacted gardaí before that time.

However, a key security protocol obliging banks to contact gardaí before any ransom money leaves a bank branch was not followed.

The house in which the men were taken hostage was sealed off by gardaí yesterday for a forensic examination.

The two men have been interviewed by detectives in the hope any information they can recall might aid the investigation.

The investigating team at Tallaght Garda station want to speak to anybody who may have been in the Deerpark area between 11pm on Monday and 3.30am yesterday.

They also want to speak to anyone who may have seen unusual activity at AIB’s Crumlin Cross branch between 8.30am and noon yesterday or at the Red Cow area shortly after noon.

Anyone who was in the area of Portmarnock where the hostage was released at 1.30pm is also asked to contact gardaí at Tallaght.