One of four men arrested by gardai after the violent hijacking of a car and the armed robbery of two Dublin post offices had been released from prison recently after serving only two years of an eight-year sentence for a previous spate of armed robberies.
The 22-year-old man, from Cabra, Dublin, was one of four men arrested after a chase involving the Garda Air Support Unit, the Emergency Response Unit and armed detectives from the Dublin West Division.
The gang forced their way into a house in Cabra at 10.20 a.m. on Monday, assaulting and threatening to kill a woman before taking her car.
Ten minutes later, they entered the post office at Faussagh Road and fired a shotgun blast through a security screen after the postmistress refused to hand over money. The blast narrowly missed the postmistress. Then, 15 minutes later, they robbed the post office in Blanchardstown Shopping Centre of about £6,000 in cash after threatening staff.
The getaway car was pursued by gardai and four men were arrested at Whitestown Gardens, Blanchardstown. A sawn-off shotgun and the £6,000 in cash was recovered.
After the arrests it transpired that one of the men was released from prison recently after serving only two years of an eight-year sentence for armed robberies.
Gardai say they are becoming increasingly concerned that an increase in armed robberies in the past year has been at least partly due to the fact that people arrested and convicted of serious crimes are being released early.
There is also concern among gardai that the terms of the referendum on bail, passed in 1997, have yet to be implemented. In that referendum the electorate voted to amend the Constitution to abolish the automatic right to bail in virtually all criminal cases.
Four men being held under Section 30 of the Offences Against the State Act in connection with the post office raids are due to appear before Dublin District Court this morning.