GARDAÍ INVESTIGATING the theft of more than €300,000 in a bank robbery involving hostage taking have seized a van they believe was used in the incident.
Detectives were last night continuing to question a man about the raid and they have also identified a second suspect.
The money was taken from the Permanent TSB branch in Phibsboro, north Dublin, on Tuesday morning.
A 22-year-old female bank worker was sent a picture on her mobile phone as she was in work showing her boyfriend being held at gunpoint.
She was told her partner (26) would be released unharmed if she dropped a bag of money from the bank on railway tracks at Broombridge Station in Cabra, Dublin, just before noon.
However, members of the public saw her dropping the bag from a bridge on to the line and they rang gardaí.
The Garda had already been informed about the robbery by the bank and were putting an operation in place to catch those responsible.
When gardaí went to investigate the bag on the line they arrested a man as he was about to take it away. All the cash was recovered.
The arrested man is in his early 20s and is from Cabra. He is being detained at Mountjoy Garda station.
Gardaí have identified at least one other suspect in the case and further arrests are expected shortly.
The female bank worker and her boyfriend, both of whom are also from Cabra but are living in Tyrrelstown in west Dublin, spoke to gardaí yesterday and helped them with the investigation.
The man has told gardaí he left his home in Tyrrelstown in his car on Tuesday morning.
He said he drove to Finglas but when he got to a secluded stretch of road at Bay Lane gang members boxed him in in their vehicles.
He said he was then taken away in the raiders’ van.
He told gardaí he was forced at gunpoint to drive his captors around in their van for a number of hours.
He said he escaped from the back of the van at about noon as the vehicle was parked in Ashbourne, Co Meath.
Gardaí have now recovered that van. It is being forensically examined along with the car the man was driving when taken hostage.
A number of mobile phones are also being examined to try to identify the person who sent the picture to the female bank worker.
