Garage worker held for ransom in Kildare raid

Gardaí are searching for a gang which abducted a garage worker four days ago for ransom.

The service station employee was released after his colleague managed to empty the company’s safe and surrendered the money to the raiders.

The incident occurred just after 9pm last Friday when staff at a service station in Athy, Co Kildare, were locking up for the night.

Men armed with knives and wearing balaclavas approached the Top Oil workers at the garage on the Kilkenny Road.

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Money was demanded by the two raiders as they threatened the staff and forced them into a back room on the premises.

However, while a safe was contained in that room, it was time-locked meaning it could not be accessed.

After proving unsuccessful in accessing the money, the raiders took one of the garage workers away in their car.

They demanded his colleague meet them a short time later close-by on the Kilkenny Road.

When the hostage’s colleague gained access to the safe and took the money from it, he delivered the cash to the raiders at the agreed location.

At that point the man being held hostage was released unharmed and the raiders escaped in their vehicle.

Gardaí are seeking witnesses and have issued a public appeal in the hope of identifying the raiders.

The investigating team in Athy is appealing to anyone who saw a vehicle, possibly a Mazda 323F, close to the Top Oil garage at about 9pm on Friday, April 14th, to contact them.

When the garage worker who accessed the cash and brought it to the gang, he met them around half way between the Top Oil garage and Loughman’s Garage, both on the Kilkenny Road.

Gardaí are appealing for anyone who saw people acting suspiciously or vehicles parked or pulling away from that area around the time of the raid to come forward.