MINISTER FOR Justice Dermot Ahern has requested a report from gardaí into a so-called tiger robbery of an AIB branch during which security protocols set down by the Garda were not followed.
AIB has launched an internal inquiry but has refused to comment on any breach of protocols by its staff.
A spokesman for the bank said because an internal inquiry and Garda investigation were now under way, it would not be appropriate to comment on the €200,000 armed robbery in Dublin yesterday.
A housemate of a bank official working at AIB’s Crumlin Cross branch in the south inner city was taken hostage by an armed gang.
He was freed when the bank worker took more than €200,000 from the bank and surrendered it to the gang at a location in west Dublin.
Senior Garda officers are furious that a criminal gang has escaped with such a large sum.
One Garda source said that protocols had been followed by banks targeted in recent robbery attempts involving hostage-taking, known as tiger raids.
This had enabled gardaí to quickly put operations in place leading to some raids being foiled and gang members being arrested.
“We’ve seen in the past that when one gang gets away with money, others tend to try their luck,” said one senior source.
Banks are supposed to alert gardaí before any bank worker is allowed to take money from a branch to secure the release of a hostage being held by a gang.
This protocol was not followed in this case.
Mr Ahern has now asked for a report on the incident so he can assess where the protocols broke down.
It is unclear at this stage if Mr Ahern plans to call senior figures from the bank to a meeting.
In the past where protocols have not been followed, the minister of the day and senior gardaí have met leading figures from the banking and cash-in-transit sectors to reiterate the need to follow the protocols.
Gardaí believe at least three men, two of them armed, were involved in the latest robbery.
The incident began in the early hours of yesterday when gang members broke into a rented house in Kiltipper, Tallaght, west Dublin, where the bank worker and his male housemate live.
The housemate was taken away by the gang in a car just before 3.30am. The bank worker was given a phone by the gang and told to go to work as normal yesterday morning.
He was contacted again just before noon and told to drop off a bag of cash at a location close to the Red Cow roundabout in west Dublin.
His housemate was then freed in Portmarnock, north Dublin, at 1.30pm and contacted gardaí.