Two brothers, aged 29 and 33, were abducted at gunpoint from their home in Delmage Park, Moyross, Limerick, at 3.30 a.m. yesterday.
They were dragged into a field, stripped naked and tied up and given what gardai called "a punishment-style beating" to the head and face. One of the abductors carried a sawn-off shotgun.
Gardai responded to an anonymous telephone call and believe they interrupted the worst of the attack. The assailants escaped. One of them was detained in hospital with suffered a broken jaw.