Day release prisoners held over robbery

THREE prisoners out on day release were arrested yesterday on suspicion of committing an armed robbery in the centre of Dublin.

The trio were returning to Mountjoy’s training unit when they were picked up by gardaí acting on descriptions given by the victim.

A businessman reported he was held up by three men on Sherrard Street around 1pm. One of the robbers had a knife and they managed to steal a four-figure sum.

They are now being questioned at Store Street Garda Station. The men, from Cork and Dublin, are all in their 20s and were coming to the end of their sentences on burglary and drugs offences. They are being detained under Section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act and can be questioned for up to 12 hours.

One prison source said it was “not unusual” to hear of prisoners on day release being suspected of involvement in crimes. “What better alibi could they have than they are actually in prison,” said the insider.

Meanwhile, two men were being questioned last night in connection with a high-speed car chase during which a shot was fired at gardaí. The shot was fired from the window of a car during the six-mile chase through the dangerously winding back roads of the Tipperary countryside.

The gunman stuck the shotgun out the window and let off a round from the weapon at the chasing unmarked Garda vehicle.

The chase ended with a crash as the car carrying the gunman and his accomplice left the road. The pair, both in their twenties, were slightly injured.

The unmarked patrol car was deployed near Fethard in Tipperary following a series of recent late-night armed robberies in the area. Only hours before the chase, a pharmacy in Fethard was burgled by four men. Nearly €3,000 and a large quantity of medicine was stolen. The medicine was later recovered.

Superintendent Michael Devine, of Clonmel Station, said the unmarked car carrying two plain clothes gardaí came across a car near Moyglass around 3am.

“On seeing the patrol, they took off. The members pursued the car and after a lengthy chase, five, six, seven miles, through serious back roads, they crashed the car,” said Supt Devine.

As the chase went on, marked patrol cars were deployed and were on the scene and were close to the scene when the car crashed.

The two men were arrested and a shotgun and knife were recovered. They were taken to Clonmel and are being held under Section 30 of the Offences Against the State Act.