Brothers central to setting up robberies

THE brothers now largely operate as consultants. They provide intelligence, planning and, it is increasingly thought, inside information to associates.

The associates do the actual heist. In turn the brothers demand a substantial cut. But they still keep sharp, and directly carry out select operations, gardaí say.

“They do become involved in the robberies, but they are now more involved in setting them up and providing the intelligence,” said a garda source.

The brothers have a large group of associates who they use for robberies or to whom they provide “consultancy services.”

“They have an awful lot of associates, you are talking of at least two dozen, with a larger number of smaller guys on the periphery,” said one source.

The brothers, aged 31 and 25, are from Finglas, north Dublin, and are among the top suspects for Monday morning’s heist in Dublin. They have been linked to nearly 3 million worth of robberies from cash in transit vans in recent years.

Only one of the two brothers has ever been arrested and no charges have been brought against either in relation to the robberies.

The older brother is the leader of the gang and lives in a mansion outside Navan in Co Meath.

Both he and his brother boast 05 top-of-the range cars. The Criminal Assets Bureau is understood to be targeting their wealth.

The gang boasts a large arsenal of weapons, a stock of stolen high-powered cars and have top of the range bugging and scanning equipment. Gardaí watching the gang suspect they have inside information in the security companies, such has been the level of their success.

“These guys are not stupid. They have good intelligence and they are getting that from somewhere,” said one source.

“They survived this far and haven’t been done. Only one of them has been arrested.”

The gang was suspected of being behind a massive increase in cash-in-transit robberies in the first half of last year. Their biggest success was the robbery of around 1.3m from a security van in Bettystown, Co Meath last July.

The gang has received a number of blows in recent times with the deaths of two high-profile associates, Declan Curran and Anthony Spratt, both of whom died in custody. But gardaí said this has not affected their operations.

A second gang based across the city has also been shortlisted as possible suspects for the raid. The highly-experienced gang operates out of Killinarden, Tallaght, and has been linked to a large number of robberies in Dublin and Kildare in recent years.

The gang, mostly aged in their late 20s and early 30s, specialise in robbing cash- in-transit vans and ATMs.

“These guys are fairly seasoned and would be well capable of carrying out Monday’s operation,” said one garda. Following an upsurge in cash-in-transit robberies in the first half of last year, Garda Commissioner Noel Conroy set up Operation Delivery.

With a designated staff at the National Bureau of Criminal Investigation, augmented with local detectives in the affected divisions, this operation placed continuous surveillance on suspects. Unofficial figures show only 600,000 was taken in cash-in-transit heists between July and December, compared to around 3.5m in the first half of the year.

However, since the beginning of this year, the raids have started with renewed vigour, with 14 cash-in-transit raids so far.

A third gang was yesterday suggested as another possible suspect for Monday’s kidnapping and robbery. This gang is older than the other two gangs and is suspected of carrying out a similar kidnapping and robbery in 1999.

A woman who worked in a Dublin city centre bureau de change was held hostage overnight by a gang who forced her to open the office the following morning, in which the raiders got away with 1m in cash and travellers’ cheques.

This gang, based in Dublin’s north inner city, is also suspected of the organised theft of valuable computer equipment and microchips.

One member of the gang is believed to have made a tax settlement of 200,000 with the Criminal Assets Bureau.