THE CREW of a cash delivery van are recovering after being attacked by armed raiders during an attempted robbery in which five shots were fired.
One of the crew was badly assaulted by the raiders and required hospital treatment. The botched armed raid occurred in Navan, Co Meath, just after 11am yesterday.
A G4S security van was delivering money to an ATM and collecting cash at the Beechmount shopping centre, Trim Road, when they were attacked.
The van was parked in the car park of the centre and as one of the G4S workers came out of the centre carrying cash in a strongbox, two men pulled up on a motorbike.
One of the men who was armed with a baton hit one of the G4S workers over the head. The second man, who was carrying a handgun, fired at least one shot into the back of the van and a further three or four shots into the strongbox.
The box had been fitted with a dye device that explodes red ink if forced open. When the shots were fired the dye began pumping out of the box and the two raiders got back on their motorbike and fled the scene empty-handed.
They drove to a car park less than a mile from the robbery scene. The men abandoned their motorbike and jumped into a waiting grey Audi A3 car driven by an accomplice.
The G4S worker injured when he was hit over the head was taken to hospital in Navan. He was later released.
Separately, gardaí in Longford are searching for a gang that robbed the Ulster Bank in Granard on Thursday evening. Three men, one of whom was armed with a pistol and another with a knife, went into the bank at 5pm and escaped with a sum of money.