Gardaí and the private security sector are looking at new ways to deter robberies involving hostages, writes Conor Lally, Crime Correspondent.
Paul and Marie Richardson were watching Sunday night television as their two sons prepared for school the next morning. At around 10pm a caller rang the bell of the family's home in the Ashcroft estate in Raheny, Dublin. When Marie answered, the door was pushed in by armed men wearing wigs and brandishing handguns.
The family was ordered into the living room and told to keep quiet. Calmly, the well organised raiders explained their plans for the hours ahead. Marie and the boys - Ian (17) and Kevin (13) - would be taken to a secret location. Paul would remain with other gang members in the house overnight.
When morning came he would report for work as usual at Securicor's Rialto depot, where he worked as a delivery van driver. He would drive his vehicle to a drop-off point and unload the money into the raiders' car. If he did exactly what he was told neither he nor his wife and children would be hurt. It went like a dream. Paul drove his Securicor van to the designated meeting spot outside the Angler's Rest pub at the Strawberry Beds.
The money, all €2.4 million of it, was handed over. Paul's wife and sons were freed from a secluded spot at Cloon Wood in Cruagh Forest, Co Wicklow. By the time gardaí were alerted the gang had vanished.
The raiders clearly had forensic knowledge, not only of Paul's address and his usual Sunday night routine, but also of his work patterns.
That was May 2005. In the intervening 20 months there have been 10 robberies involving hostage-taking. The method was pioneered by members of the IRA in the North. They are called tiger robberies because of the similarities between how gangs stalk their victims and how tigers stalk their prey.
LAST SUNDAY NIGHT67-year-old Bernard Hogan and his wife Ailish became the victims of the State's latest hostage robbery. They were ambushed in their home at Hillcrest Close, Lucan, Dublin. On Monday morning Bernard, a Securicor worker, drove some of his attackers to Carlow town where he knew a delivery van would be loading ATMs. Some €1.3 million was taken before Ailish was released from a derelict house near Rathcoole in Co Dublin.
The latest robbery brought to almost €5 million the amount stolen in tiger robberies since the Richardsons were the first to fall victim.
The attacks have not been limited to the cash-in-transit sector. Workers from An Post, Permanent TSB, Chubb, Superquinn, McDonald's, National Irish Bank and a Cork chain of off-licences have also fallen victim.
Some attacks have been foiled because gang members fell asleep, allowing their victims to escape.
An Post says it is "hugely concerned" about the targeting of its staff.
Securicor says its workers have been subjected to "extreme terror" during recent attacks. The Postmasters' Union says many of its members fear being held captive in their homes. And the Irish Bank Officials Association warned its members to "think carefully" before agreeing to become key holders.
On Tuesday at Garda Headquarters, Phoenix Park, Dublin, Garda Commissioner Noel Conroy and Deputy Garda Commissioner Fachtna Murphy held crisis talks with members of the security industry.
Earlier in the day Tánaiste and Minister for Justice Michael McDowell vowed he would consider making compulsory a voluntary code of conduct agreed by members of the security industry forum 18 months ago, which came into effect on January 1st.
The exact details of the code have never been disclosed. However, sources said some measures relate to the storage of money in time-locked compartments in cash-in-transit vans. Other measures include a pledge to transport cash from van to ATM in dye boxes, which would explode dye onto stolen money, rendering it useless, if at any time the boxes were forced open.
McDowell implied this week that the success of the robbery in Carlow revealed these "elementary" precautions were not being followed, expressing his "wonderment" at this. Securicor hit back, insisting its staff had followed all procedures during Monday's robbery. However, the company has said that in future access to cash in the back of its vans will be controlled remotely from a control centre - requests to release money will only be granted if control staff are satisfied the vans are at planned delivery points at scheduled times.
Sources among the senior ranks of two of the State's biggest security companies this week told The Irish Times that while all elements of the code had not been fully implemented a significant amount of progress had already been made.
One revealed a new system is currently being tested that will render money useless if it is stolen at any point between leaving a security depot and being withdrawn from an ATM. Notes will be loaded in cassettes before leaving a depot. The cassettes will be taken to delivery points and placed into ATMs. If at any point the cassettes are forced open, ink will explode on the money.
"Even if a full ATM is pulled off the wall, when the cassettes are opened the money will be useless," said one source.
After Tuesday's meeting with representatives of the private security industry the Garda unveiled an ambitious plan that senior officers believe will deter some tiger robbery gangs. Rival cash-in-transit firms will now work together to co-ordinate deliveries to the same areas of the city at the same time. Policing, including armed patrols, will be greatly increased in these "delivery zones" during periods of increased activity. Garda helicopters will also be deployed to monitor delivery zones. Other measures under consideration include plans for the crews of vans to regularly check in at Garda stations along their routes.
The new measures will be finalised and implemented by a new working group under the chairmanship of Chief Supt Pat Hogan, head of the Garda internal audit division.
Confidential research obtained by The Irish Timesreveals a similarly focused Garda operation in 2005 deterred armed gangs from carrying out traditional on-street armed hold-ups of cash-in-transit staff.
Figures compiled by the European Security Transport Association reveal that in 2004 the Republic had one robbery for every three cash-in-transit vans in use here - the worst risk profile of the ESTA's 25 member states.
However, following the establishment of specialist Garda operations in 2005 - including Operation Anvil - the number of robberies fell to one for every 12 vans. The situation improved further last year with the Republic now having a risk profile just below the European average.
One senior Garda source said senior management within An Garda is concerned at the increase in tiger robberies. He said it was clear some gangs had insider information. "We're not exactly delighted when huge sums are robbed, because very often a lot of it is invested in drugs. Obviously the gangs have changed tactics, but we're changing how we respond and we will be successful."
One Dublin bank manager said while traditional in-branch hold-up style robberies are much more common, tiger robberies have become a very real concern among staff.
"You have a lot of conversations with staff after a tiger robbery is in the news along the lines of 'that could be us; that could be my family'. We'd always talk to staff about varying their routine and the time that they go to and from their homes.
"But it's like any other part of life. When an event happens for a few weeks afterwards there's a heightened awareness of a threat. But after a while that dissipates. Very few people take all of the precautions they can in life all of the time."
Tiger tales: the story so far
2007
January 15th: An armed gang steals €1.3 million from a Securicor van in Carlow after 67-year-old employee Bernard Hogan and his wife Ailish are kidnapped in their home in Lucan, Co Dublin, and held overnight.
January 12th: An armed gang gets away with an undisclosed sum of money from McDonald's in Derry after holding him and his wife hostage at gunpoint in Muff, Co Donegal.
January 8th: Gardaí foil an attempt to rob €1 million from a Chubb cash-in-transit van. A van driver and his two friends are held hostage in Swords, Co Dublin, but the heist is foiled after the driver's two friends free themselves and raise the alarm.
2006
November 9th: The family of a female postmistress from Glasnevin, Dublin, are held hostage but are abandoned by the gang holding them after the gang's van breaks down on the M50.
November 8th: A female postmistress from the North Strand post office in Dublin's north inner city escape from a vehicle in which she is being held in Monkstown after the man guarding her injects drugs and passes out.
November 7th: Three armed men break into a house in Belclare Park, Ballymun, Dublin, but quickly retreat when confronted by a number of men. It is thought that the burglars were targeting a key holder of a post office but instead encountered several of her male relatives.
October 8th: The assistant manager of Superquinn in Dundalk, Co Louth, is forced to take a substantial cash sum from the shop after being held by an armed gang overnight.
September 28th: About €820,000 is stolen from the Permanent TSB in Northside Shopping Centre, Coolock, Dublin, after the manager is held captive in her home in Clogherhead, Co Louth, along with her husband and two children.
August 29th 2006: Some 270,000 is paid out by the National Irish Bank, Killester, Dublin, after the family of a junior staff member is kidnapped from their Baldoyle home and held overnight in Donaghmede.
May 2nd: Cork off-licence chain owner Gary O'Donovan and his wife Katie are held at gunpoint in their Rochestown home. They escape after the man guarding them falls asleep.
2005
March 14th: The family of Securicor worker Paul Richardson is held captive by an armed gang. They are freed in a wooded area in Wicklow after Richardson is forced to go to work as normal and hand over €2.3 million from his van to those holding his family.