Gardaí are investigating after two cigarette delivery vans, in two separate locations in Dublin, were held up and robbed in similar circumstances today.
At approximately 9am, on Snugborough Road, near Blanchardstown, west Dublin, the first van with two employees on board was approached by a man while stopped at a filling station.
The man threatened the crew with what appeared to be a handgun and made them drive to a nearby location, gardaí said.
All the cigarettes were then loaded into a white transit van and the employees were tied up and left in the back of their own delivery vehicle.
They were able to free themselves and raise the alarm. Two men were later stopped in the white transit van at Johnstown, Co Meath, by the Garda Organised Crime Unit and all the cigarettes were recovered.
The two men were arrested and were being held at Blanchardstown Garda station under Section 30 of The Offences Against The State Act.
Meanwhile, some time after 11am a similar robbery occurred on Ashtown Grove, off Navan Road, Dublin 7.
Another cigarette delivery van, also with a two-man crew, was parked on Ashtown Grove when three men approached and threatened the employees, according to gardaí.
One of the men was armed with what was believed to be a stun gun.
The cigarrette delivery van was then taken along with its cargo of cigarettes but was found abandoned a short time later in Martin Savage Park.
All the cigarettes were recovered and the van was removed for technical examination.
No arrests have been made in connection with this second robbery.