Van raiders may have got €400,000
One of the robbers made repeated trips between the van and the getaway car, carrying up to four bags of €20,000 each time.
The robber was heard to shout “more, more” as he banged on the side of the van.
The hooded pair and a getaway
driver took less than five minutes to
remove hundreds of thousands of euro from the Securicor van after it pulled up in front of an Allied Irish Bank
machine outside a shopping centre in Santry, north Dublin. Gardaí described the haul as “substantial,” while there are reports as much as 400,000 was stolen.
Eyewitnesses said they saw at least 12 bags, which would have contained more than 200,000, taken from the van.
A team of 20 detectives, headed by Superintendent Mick Murray have been assigned to catch the three-man gang, who fled the Omni Centre car park in a black Volvo, stolen nearly two months ago.
No shots were fired during the raid, but the two guards are said to be shocked following their ordeal.
One of the robbers is described as aged 20-25, skinny and no more than 5’5’’ in height, while another is said to be aged between 25 and 30 and up to 6ft tall. They were all dressed in black and wore balaclavas.
The drama began shortly after 9am yesterday. When the van pulled up at the bank machine and the driver stepped out, two men jumped from the Volvo.
One forced the guard to the ground and aimed a sawn-off shotgun at his head.
The other, holding a handgun, banged on the van and started screaming for the cash.
A tradesman who watched the drama from just yards away, said: “I was in the back of my van when I heard these banging sounds. I got out, looked up and saw there was one fellow holding another down on the ground with a sawn-off shotgun. The other fellow was banging on the side of the van. He carried three or four bags away. He was running from the van to a car about 10 feet away and then he went back up and started banging again. I think he was shouting ‘more, more.’”
The man ran to the door of a nearby shop and shouted to the owner to call gardaí. The businessman dialled 999, but could not get through.
“It seemed very strange,” he said. Garda HQ said the system was temporarily overloaded due to a large volume of calls at the time.
Two gardaí were in the centre on an unrelated matter shortly before the robbery took place. Superintendent Murray said gardaí were immediately notified about the robbery, but by the time a patrol car reached the centre, the robbers had gone.
The black Volvo was discovered abandoned at Lillemar Industrial Estate on the road to Coolock about a mile away from the scene of the heist.
It is thought the gang transferred to another vehicle.
Detectives are appealing for anyone who may have seen the car after it was stolen in Blanchardstown on June 15. They will study CCTV tapes and want to talk to anyone who may have seen the three men acting suspiciously in the Omni Centre around 9.15am.
