Hunt continues for kidnappers who held family

A north Dublin family was recovering last night from a 14-hour kidnap ordeal that ended with one family member being forced to deliver cash from the bank where he worked.

Gardaí said a four-man gang escaped with a substantial amount of money after forcing a 23-year-old National Irish Bank employee to remove it from the Killester branch while three other members of his family were being held at gunpoint.

This latest hostage-taking robbery prompted renewed Opposition criticism of Government policy on armed crime.

The senior officer leading the investigation, Chief Supt Peter Maguire, said detectives were keeping an open mind on the case. "It's a very early stage of the investigation and we're ruling nothing in and ruling nothing out," he said.

This is the second time in two years the Killester branch has been robbed. In April 2005, two men escaped with at least €100,000 from the bank after locking staff in a toilet when they arrived for work.

NIB declined to comment yesterday, claiming it was precluded from doing so by the Garda investigation.

The family's ordeal began shortly after 9.45pm on Monday night when four men forcibly entered the house at Seacliff Avenue in Baldoyle and imprisoned a mother, her two daughters aged 16 and 18, and her 23-year-old son. The men wore masks and carried firearms.

Two family members were kept imprisoned in the house until after 11am the following morning, while the other two were taken to open ground off the Balgriffin Road where they were held at gunpoint overnight.

Between 9.30am and 10.15am yesterday, the bank employee travelled to the branch on the Howth Road where, acting under duress, he took out the money. A red Peugeot 206, which was used to drop off the money to the gang, was recovered by gardaí at about midday yesterday, by which time the family members had been released.

Chief Supt Maguire said the members were not injured but were threatened with violence. "They're badly shocked but recovering from their ordeal."

Gardaí have appealed to members of the public who witnessed any unusual activity in the crime locations between Monday evening and Tuesday morning to contact them.

In particular, they are trying to trace a small van and a number of men in dark clothes, one of whom has long hair.

Garda forensic experts spent yesterday examining the family house, and the branch remained closed as they searched for clues there.

Neighbours at the Seagrange estate yesterday said the family at the centre of the kidnap drama were long-term residents of the area. One described the NIB employee as a "lovely, quiet fellow" and said the family were "very private" and "kept to themselves".

Local residents expressed shock at the kidnapping and said nothing like it had happened before in the estate.

Jim O'Keeffe of Fine Gael said the incident was further proof that the criminal underworld was "alive and well". Mr O'Keeffe claimed that Ireland had more than double the EU rate of robberies.

Labour's Senator Joanna Tuffy said gangs still appeared to be able to walk away with huge sums of money with ridiculous ease.

In 1993, a gang kidnapped NIB chief executive Jim Lacey and forced him to remove £243,000 from the College Green branch. After this robbery, the bank said it had introduced improved security procedures.