Would-be raiders caught red-handed by gardaí

ARMED raiders were caught red-handed yesterday as they were about to carry out a heist on a security van.

Detectives swooped on the three-man gang in a car park in west Dublin as part of a garda operation.

The men parked their car in a car park at the Spa Hotel in Lucan before the arrival of a cash-in-transit van.

Gardaí established the intelligence during investigations carried out under Operation Crossover, which targets armed gangs in west Dublin, and Operation Delivery, which focuses on gangs involved in cash-in-transit robberies.

Armed detectives moved in on the gang following initial surveillance of the car park.

Gardaí arrested the three occupants and seized a firearm.

One of the men is aged in his 20s, another is in his 30s, while the third is in his 40s.

They were detained under Section 30 of The Offences against the State Act and held separately at Lucan, Ronanstown and Ballyfermot Garda Stations.

The three men can be detained for two initial periods of 24 hours.

This can be followed, if needs be, by a final and further 24 hours on application to the courts.

The trio hail from the Mulhuddart area of Blanchardstown, west Dublin, and are suspected of carrying out previous raids.

They are not believed to be associated with the main gang in west Dublin specialising in cash-in-transit raids.

They are not suspects in relation to the two major heists of security vans this year.

The first one in Strawberry Beds, west Dublin, netted raiders €2.28 million, while the second, in Killester, north Dublin, involved €1.8m and £89,000 (€130,500).

There were 12 cash-in-transit raids in the first three months of this year, compared to 25 in the same period last year.

But the €5m seized so far this year is 50% higher than the total (€3.4m) seized for the whole of last year.

Meanwhile, cash-in-transit firm Securicor yesterday said a new security system to protect cash deliveries to AIB ATMs would be introduced tomorrow.

The system called ‘Fluiditi’ provides ‘end to end’ protection for cash. It

prevents access to cash during transit and destroys the cash if it is attacked.

It is being implemented jointly with AIB and will be extended to more ATMs over the coming weeks.