Two arrests linked to armed robbery

TWO people were arrested yesterday in connection with an armed robbery in which a family were held captive.

A five-person gang stole around €50,000 from the home of a businessman near Carrickmacross, Co Monaghan, on July 29 last.

They held the wife of Peter Martin hostage, along with the couple’s five children and another woman.

Gardaí yesterday pounced on two people suspected of being connected with the raid.

“The arrests are as a result of an ongoing inquiry into an armed robbery in the Carrickmacross area in the last couple of months,” said a garda source.

Officers seized a substantial amount of cash during searches at two addresses in Dundalk, Co Louth.

“We are examining the cash to see if it linked to the items that were stolen,” said the source.

Officers also seized a quantity of cannabis, forged euro and sterling notes and a large quantity of ammunition.

Gardaí said a 27-year-old female and a 34-year-old male were arrested at the two premises.

They were detained under section 30 of the Offences Against the State Act and held at Castleblaney and Carrickmacross garda stations.

They can be held for a maximum of 72 hours.

Gardaí would not comment on reports the gang might have had paramilitary links.

Speculation of dissident republican involvement gathered momentum when a burnt-out vehicle used in the robbery was found in Forkhill, a republican stronghold just over the border in south Armagh.

The gang struck Mr Martin’s home at Leonsbeg, four kilometres outside Carrickmacross, just before 11pm on July 29.

Mr Martin was not there, but the gang locked his wife, a friend and the couple’s five children inside the garage.

They were threatened not to raise the alarm, or they would be “dealt with”.

The raiders removed a safe from the house and made off with it in the owner’s blue Mercedes, which was later found burnt-out at Forkhill.

Gardaí suspect the gang knew Mr Martin’s movements and had planned the operation.