Gardaí investigating an incident involving the false imprisonment of Kilkenny hurler Adrian Ronan and his family and the attempted robbery of a financial institution in Kilkenny last November have arrested 10 people.
The six men and four women were arrested this morning following a series of raids in Dublin.
They are being detained in various Garda stations throughout the Southeast including Kilkenny, Carlow, Waterford, Thomastown and Tramore.
Six of those arrested are being detained under section 50 of the Criminal Justice Act 2007, while four are being held under the provisions of section 30 of the Offences Against the State Act 1939.
The Ronan family’s ordeal began at their home at Michael’s Church, Ballycallan, Co Kilkenny, at 6.15am on November 3rd. Three masked men, at least one of whom was armed with a handgun, broke in to the house.
Ms Ronan was taken away at gunpoint. Mr Ronan was left with instructions to go to work as normal at 9am to the Parliament Street branch of the Bank of Ireland in Kilkenny city.
He was told his wife would only be released unharmed if he took €3 million from the branch. The gang gave him a phone saying they would ring him later in the morning and direct him where to drop the money off for collection.
The three Ronan children, all of whom are below the age of 10, were asleep when the raiders broke into their house. Mr Ronan took them in to work with him. They were unaware that their mother had been taken hostage.
When the gang members rang Mr Ronan just before noon, he told them he was only able to get €200,000 because of the time-lock systems on the safe. They demanded he get more money.
Just after 1pm the gang rang him back and told him to put whatever money he had in a bag and to go to his car parked close by and await further instruction via the mobile phone. However, he never heard from the gang again.
The Bank of Ireland had told gardaí what was happening and a major Garda operation was put in place. Gardaí believe the gang may have become nervous over the course of the protracted robbery attempt and simply decided to abandon the heist.
Ms Ronan was being held at an unattended weather station on the Granges Road, close to St Luke’s Hospital in Kilkenny city. The man holding her discharged one shot during her ordeal, although not at her. He left her there in the early afternoon and she managed to make her way outside. She was spotted by gardaí just after 2pm and reunited with her husband and children a short time later.