Gardai in Limerick were assisting detectives in Galway yesterday in investigating whether the occupants of a stolen car found abandoned outside the city yesterday afternoon were linked to a bank robbery in Galway that morning.
A Garda helicopter was involved in a search for more than six hours yesterday in south Galway and north Clare after two men, at least one of whom was armed, robbed an AIB bank of about £12,000 at 11 a.m.
A car was stolen in Gort at about 2 p.m., although a Garda spokesman said there was as yet no evidence linking the two incidents.
The car, a red Opel Kadett, was last spotted at the village of Crusheen, about 10 miles north of Ennis on the main Galway-Limerick road.
The two men, believed to be in their late twenties, held up the AIB on the Tuam Road, Galway. One of them, armed with a sawn-off shotgun, stood guard at the premises while the other stole cash.
The two men fled the scene on a large, dark-coloured motorcycle, which had still not been found yesterday evening.
The stolen car was noticed abandoned at the Limerick Inn hotel, four miles outside the city, at 5 p.m.
A Garda spokesman said the Limerick investigation was focusing on the identity of the occupants of the stolen car.