Pennies from Heaven recovered

GARDAÍ yesterday recovered €100,000 in coins stolen in an armed robbery from a charity three days ago.

Two men were arrested after the cash was found in the Walkinstown area of Dublin following an early morning garda operation.

The men were arrested under Section 30 of the Offences against the State Act and can be held for up to 72 hours at Kilmainham Garda Station.

The money stolen from the Pennies from Heaven charity was in British sterling and old Irish coins.

Three men, one carrying a shotgun, forced their way into the charity’s headquarters at Clancy Barracks in Islandbridge, between 2.45am and 3.45am last Friday.

The armed gang demanded the cash, collected during the change from the pound to the euro, and two security guards were overpowered and tied up during the raid. They made off in a van with a pallet full of coins.

Pennies From Heaven was

established in 1999 to collect coins during the euro changeover. The stolen money was one of the last batches to be counted and it was set to be transported to the Central Bank when the robbery took place.

The remainder of the collected money, estimated at 7 million, had already been moved to the Central Bank over the last

number of months.

Pennies From Heaven last night welcomed the safe return of the money. The charity had only

intended to collect pound coins when the initiative was launched.

However, large quantities of sterling and other international currencies were also donated helping to boost the charity’s total takings by millions.

The only place the thieves could have cashed in the old coins was at the Central Bank.

Some 10 charities are set to benefit under the Pennies From Heaven campaign including Barnardos, Concern and the

Simon Community.

The total amount collected will be announced at a ceremony, that will attended by the Taoiseach Bertie Ahern, in the Shelbourne Hotel on Wednesday.