Hunt for armed robbers after €180,000 raid
A security guard was seriously injured in the heist at the Bank of Ireland branch in St James’s Hospital when he was hit in the face with a gun.
Gardaí were last night examining a motorbike discovered in a nearby flats complex which they believe was used in the getaway.
The raid happened at 8.25am yesterday morning as a Securicor van was making a cash delivery to the branch’s ATM.
The Securicor employees were bringing bags of cash to the dispensing machine when the raiders pounced.
Two men, one armed with a handgun, the other with a hatchet, held up bank staff and made off with eight bags of cash, amounting to 180,000.
The raiders were wearing dark clothing and balaclavas during the raid, but gardaí have no other descriptions.
No shots were fired, but one security man received a vicious blow to the face with a gun. He was being treated last night in St James’s Hospital.
A Garda spokesman said the robbers escaped through a rear car park.
He added: “A high-powered motorbike was later found at Basin Street flats, with its engine running. It is believed to have been used in the getaway and it was taken to Kilmainham Street garda station for technical examination.”
Gardaí have appealed to anyone with any information to contact Kilmainham station at 01-6669700.
The raid is one of the biggest heists since a major Garda crackdown against armed robbers was wound down earlier this year.
Operation Discovery, which involved experts from the National Bureau of Criminal Investigation, successfully targeted a number of armed gangs carrying out heists on security vans across the country, particularly in Dublin.
“Robberies always die down when there’s a focus on them. It’s certainly not as prevalent in the last couple of months, but there’s always opportunists like the one in St James’,” a source attached to Operation Discovery said.
The operation could be re-established if armed heists become more prevalent again.
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