Two Dublin criminals were under arrest last night after gardaí foiled a major cigarette robbery in the city yesterday.
In a second, unconnected, cigarette heist just hours later, three armed raiders escaped. However, they were forced to abandon their full stolen delivery truck after they forgot to take the keys to the storage compartment.
The first of yesterday's aggravated robberies began at 9am at the Texaco filling station on Snugborough Road, Blanchardstown.
The two-man crew of a delivery truck, owned by Bond and transporting cigarettes for Gallaher's, pulled into the filling station for fuel and to inflate a tyre on the vehicle. One of the men went into the shop to buy tea.
When he got back to the truck, a man armed with a handgun ordered him into the middle passenger seat and then told the driver to drive to Dolly Heffernan's pub in Mooretown, northwest Blanchardstown. When the vehicle reached the pub, the crew were tied up with cable ties by the gunman and an accomplice.
Gardaí believe the two raiders had been following the delivery van in their car just before they hijacked it at the Texaco station. They also believe the accomplice followed the truck in his car as it was driven at gunpoint to the pub.
When the delivery crew were tied up, the raiders put them into the back of their truck and unloaded the cigarettes into a waiting white Ford Transit van.
The raiders then drove off in the direction of Co Meath. One of the raiders drove the men's car ahead of the van, in what gardaí believe was an effort to detect any Garda checkpoints. However, the delivery crew freed themselves once the raiders left. Gardaí were alerted immediately. The men were able to give gardaí a description of the car and van used in the attack.
Members of the National Bureau of Criminal Investigation's organised crime unit were patrolling in the west Dublin and Meath areas when they spotted the two vehicles. They followed them before stopping the vehicles at Johnstown, Co Meath, and arresting the men. The full load of cigarettes was recovered.
The two raiders were taken to Blanchardstown Garda station, where they were being held last night. They can be held for 72 hours without charge.
One is a well-known criminal in his 50s, originally from Ballyfermot. The other, who was driving the van with the cigarettes, is from the inner city and is in his late 20s.
In the second incident, three younger men approached a cigarette delivery van parked at Ashtown Grove, Navan Road, Dublin, at about 11am.
The men, at least one of whom was armed with a stun-gun, pulled the driver from the cab and beat him severely. Both he and his colleague were left on the street as the raiders drove off in the van.
However, the raiders did not escape with the keys for the compartment containing the cigarettes and were forced to abandon the DHL delivery vehicle with its load untouched.
The vehicle was later found at nearby Martin Savage Park, Ashtown. Gardaí were last night seeking the three men who carried out the robbery.
