Three men are today being questioned by gardaí investigating a tiger robbery in west Dublin.
The men were arrested last night as part of an intelligence led investigation into an incident in which some €200,000 was taken from an AIB branch at Crumlin Cross.
The housemate of an AIB staff member was abducted from their home at Kiltipper, Tallaght by an armed gang at about 3.30am on Tuesday.
The bank official was given a mobile phone and ordered to go to his workplace to get a sum of money. He was contacted hours later and told to drop off a bag of cash at a location close to the Red Cow roundabout in west Dublin. His housemate was then freed in Portmarnock, north Dublin, but the gang was not caught at the time.
Minister for Justice Dermot Ahern has requested a report from gardaí into the robbery as security protocols set down by the Garda for such instances were not followed. Senior gardaí were said to be furious the gang had gotten away such a large sum.
A Garda spokesman said members of the Organised Crime Unit, Emergency Response Unit and officers from Tallaght Garda station stopped a car in an apartment block off the River Road in Finglas last night and arrested two men, aged 23 and 38.
A sum of money, understood to be about €30,000, was also recovered.
The men were taken to Finglas Garda Station where they are being detained under the provisions of Section 50 of the Criminal Justice Act 2007. They can be held for up to seven days.
A number of follow up searches were also carried out last night and a third man (70) was arrested. He is also being detained under Section 50 of the Criminal Justice Act 2007.
