€5m taken in van heists so far this year, says McDowell

CRIMINAL gangs have robbed €1.6 million more from security vans in the first three months of this year than in all of 2004, Justice Minister Michael McDowell has revealed.

Yesterday, the minister said that if security companies did not strengthen their procedures in the coming months, he would force such changes on them.

“If they don’t get their act together, I will get their act together for them,” he told the Dáil.

However, opposition TDs accused the minister of acting too late on the issue. Independent TD Finian McGrath said Mr McDowell was “too busy sending snatch squads into schools” to locate children who were earmarked for deportation.

Mr McDowell had earlier supplied the Dáil with figures that showed some €5m was taken in heists on security vans in the first quarter of this year - €1.6m more than was stolen in the whole of 2004.

Three people have been charged in relation to raids carried out this year, while six are before the courts in relation to heists in 2004.

However, while the amount of cash taken has increased, the actual number of heists is falling.

There were seven such heists in the first quarter of this year, compared with 12 in the same period of 2004.

Mr McDowell attributed the fall in robberies to “Operation Delivery”, established by gardaí in June 2004 in response to an increase in cash-in-transit robberies around Dublin.

The operation, which is under the control of a detective superintendent in the National Bureau of Criminal Investigation, carries out surveillance of suspects, disrupts their activities and searches premises associated with them, as well as liaising with companies involved in the cash-in-transit sector.

“Operations have resulted in the arrest and charging of a number of suspects and the recovery of a number of firearms,” Mr McDowell said. “The numbers of robberies of cash-in-transit have continued to decrease since the operation was established.”

“I am assured by the (Garda) Commissioner that the necessary resources are being directed towards the containment and detection of such serious criminal activity,” he added.

Following an armed raid on a Brinks Allied van in Dublin on March 30, in which €1.9m was stolen, Mr McDowell gave companies and financial institutions involved in the sector 120 days to introduce a voluntary code of practice.

Yesterday, he said that while he was prepared to introduce legislation to regulate the sector and ensure standards were raised, “my preference remains that key players acting in partnership voluntarily agree to act in the interests of their industry, their employees and the general public.”

There was “huge room for investment” by cash-escort companies on improved security measures, he said, while financial institutions “must face up to the fact that they must pay” for raised standards.

However, Labour Party justice spokesman Joe Costello TD said it would be a mistake to allow the security sector to be self-regulatory.