Attempt to steal cash for ATM foiled as gardaí arrive in seconds

Gardaí in Dublin foiled an attempted raid yesterday as three men tried to steal cash as it was being unloaded from a secure transit van.

The incident occurred at a branch of AIB in the Stillorgan Industrial Park in Sandyford shortly after lunchtime when three men in a white van approached Securicor staff unloading the cash for an ATM machine.

Witnesses said gardaí were on the scene within seconds and speculated that they appeared to have advance warning of the attempted robbery. The men were arrested at the scene and taken to Blackrock, and Dundrum Garda stations where they were detained under Section 30 of the Offences Against the State Act.

Gardaí said the operation was part of an "ongoing investigation into a criminal gang in the Crumlin area" [of the south inner city].

They also said no shots were fired though witnesses said they "heard something like a shot". One woman in her 30s, an employee of the bank who did not wish to be named, said she heard "something - I don't know exactly what but a loud bang that sounded like a shot.

"The only other thing I know is that I have never seen so many gardaí come out of nowhere so quickly."

At about 3pm yesterday, adjacent to the area where the white van had stopped there was broken windscreen glass and a pool of blood covered in soil from the nearby shrubbery. The vehicular entrance to the bank was cordoned off as three gardaí continued to search the shrubbery.

A spokesman from the Garda press office said: "One firearm was recovered during the course of the incident. No shots were fired and no persons injured. No money was taken."

The bank remained closed for the afternoon as customers were directed to go instead to the AIB's Stillorgan branch.