An Irish Bank Officials Association spokesman yesterday said he would be seeking a meeting with senior security officers in the Bank of Ireland, following the abduction of a bank official and his wife by an armed gang in Co Tyrone, on Monday.
The gang kept Mr Ryan Doherty and his wife at separate locations in Strabane for 10 hours before Mr Doherty was ordered to go to the B of I branch in Lifford, Co Donegal and withdraw a cash ransom. After about £25,000 was handed over to the gang in Strabane, the deeply traumatised couple were freed.
Mr Ciaran Ryan, general secretary of the IBOA, said the abduction of a young bank official represented a "change of emphasis" by criminal gangs. "I have to be very careful about security arrangements and I don't want to disclose any detail other than to say that the bank and the association are of one mind on the whole question of security.
"This latest development is a matter of great concern. I understand from media reports that this was a young, newly married bank official and this represents some change of emphasis. We will have to look at that and alert all our members to add to the already great stringency that members have in terms of their security arrangements, just to be doubly alert.
"We will certainly be having discussions with the bank and there won't be the slightest problem in arranging a meeting with our people who are on the bank's security committee, and ourselves, to meet the senior security people in the bank to review every aspect of security," Mr Ryan said.
Meanwhile, police officers on both sides of the Border in the north-west believe a dissident republican group was involved in the incident.