Two people were in Garda custody last night after a bank official and his family were taken hostage in north Co Dublin by a gang that escaped with up to €550,000.
In the fourth such incident this year, the assistant manager of the Bank of Ireland in Balbriggan, Co Dublin, along with his wife and two sons - aged 17 and 23 - were held hostage overnight by an armed gang from about 8.30pm on Wednesday, when four men entered their home in Castlefarm, Swords.
At about midnight, the official's wife and children were taken from the house and brought to a mobile home on the outskirts of Drogheda, where they were held overnight. The official was made to go to work as normal yesterday morning.
The gang instructed him to withdraw a large sum of money from the bank branch and to await instructions. Following their orders, he left the bank at about 9.30am with between €500,000 and €550,000.
About the same time, gardaí were alerted by the bank as to what was unfolding.
Shortly after the official left the bank, gardaí in an unmarked car began tailing the bank official's car at a distance. For the next hour, the official was repeatedly in telephone contact with the gang, who ordered him to drive to a number of locations in north Dublin.
On arriving at each location, he would be told to drive to another, and gardaí believe "spotters" may have been placed along the route to try to ensure he was not being followed. When he arrived at the final destination - between Donabate and Swords at Malahide estuary - some time between 11.30am and midday, the bank employee dropped off the cash, which was then taken by members of the gang.
It is understood the money was under Garda surveillance from the time it left the bank to the drop-off point. However, senior officers said because the manager's family was being held by armed men who had threatened to shoot at least one of his sons, gardaí could not move in until they felt sure the family had been released unharmed.
At about the same time the money was dropped off, the man's wife and sons were taken from where they were being held and left in a car at the side of Slane Road, just outside Drogheda. The woman and 23-year-old son were in the back seat while the 17-year-old was locked in the boot. They stayed in the car, as the gang instructed, until the alarm was raised at 1pm.
About an hour before this, a major Garda operation was put in place, including specialist armed units and gardaí from the Dublin metropolitan area as well as the Louth-Meath and Cavan-Monaghan divisions. The Garda helicopter was involved but gardaí believe that up to six vehicles and 10 people involved in the robbery may have dispersed over a wide area before gardaí felt it was safe to put their operation into action.
Several checkpoints were set up, and it was at one of these - on the Julianstown Road in Co Meath - that officers stopped a car and arrested its two occupants, an 18-year-old woman and 23-year-old man.
The man, who is from Priorswood in north Dublin, is well known to gardaí and was being held at Santry station last night. The woman, from Ballymun, was being held at Coolock station.Other suspected members of the gang remained at large, and neither firearms nor cash were recovered.
A Garda spokesman said the official, his wife and two sons were physically unharmed but traumatised by their experience.
The Irish Bank Officials' Association responded to the incident by calling for the intervention of Taoiseach Bertie Ahern to stem the spate of so-called "tiger kidnappings".
Minister for Justice Michael McDowell said the Government was working on a package of "very strong measures" to counter the threat posed by the kidnapping of bank and post office staff. The package would soon come before the Dáil, the Minister said.