Gardaí are searching for up to four men following the abduction of a security officer and his family in Co Carlow last night in a failed robbery attempt.
At around 10.30pm, three or four men that gardaí believe were armed went into the family home.
The employee of a cash-in-transit (CIT) company was ordered to go work in Dublin and drive his van containing a "substantial amount of cash" to another location in the city.
His wife and two young children were taken to an unknown location, but they managed to free themselves and went to Gorey Garda station in Co Wexford.
Gardaí intercepted the CIT van in Dublin city centre as the officer headed for the raiders' location, taking instructions by mobile phone.
There was no handover of money, and the family was unharmed.
Supt Kevin Donohoe of the Garda Press Office said new arrangements for dealing with such incidents between the Garda and CIT companies had worked well.
"Garda authorities are satisfied that these protocols provide optimum prevention, detection and recovery levels and played a significant part in the successful resolution of this latest incident," Supt Donohoe said.