GARDAÍ HAVE arrested a man and have recovered €370,000 in cash after a banker was told via phone in her Dublin workplace that her boyfriend was being held hostage by an armed gang.
The woman was told to take money from the bank where she worked and leave it near a Dublin train station or her partner would be harmed.
However, members of the public saw the woman dropping off the bag of cash near the rail line and rang gardaí. When detectives went to investigate, they found the bag and arrested a man whom they believe was about to collect it.
The untraceable notes had earlier been taken from the Permanent TSB branch in Phibsboro, north Dublin.
The 22-year-old bank employee was in work yesterday morning when she was contacted and told by the gang that her partner had been taken hostage.
She was told he would only be freed unharmed if she took a large sum of money from the bank vault and left it at a drop-off point chosen by them.
The incident is the latest in a series of raids involving hostage-takers targeting bank workers and their loved ones.
The bank worker and her partner targeted yesterday live in Tyrrelstown, west Dublin. He is believed to have been followed by the gang as he drove from his home yesterday morning.
When he reached Bay Lane in Finglas his car was cornered by the gang on a narrow section of road. He was taken from the vehicle, put into a van and driven to Ashbourne, Co Meath. He was held hostage in the van in an industrial estate.
By 11am his partner had been contacted via phone by the kidnap gang as she worked in the Phibsboro bank. She was told to take a bag of money from the bank, get into her car and drive away from the branch.
Managers at the branch knew what was happening and alerted gardaí. However, the gang did not inform the bank worker as to the exact location of the drop-off point until after she had left the bank.
The woman, whose name is not being published for safety reasons, was instructed by the gang to drop off the money close to a railway line near Broombridge station in Cabra, north Dublin.
However, as she left the bag of cash she was spotted by members of the public. They rang gardaí and, when detectives went to investigate they found a man whom they believe was part of the plot about to collect the bag.
The suspect, in his early 20s and from Cabra, was arrested and taken to Mountjoy Garda station. He is being detained under section 50 of the Criminal Justice Act, and can be held for seven days without charge.
Gardaí are searching for the other gang members.
The 26-year-old man who was held hostage has told gardaí he was forced to drive his captors around in their van for a number of hours as he was being threatened with a firearm. He has told gardaí he was later able to escape through the rear door of the van after being held in Ashbourne for a period of time.
By that stage the cash had been dropped off close to Broombridge train station.