Gardaí suspect Dublin criminals or IRA

GARDAÍ have three prime suspects for yesterday’s multi-million euro robbery, it emerged last night.

Detectives believe only one of two criminal gangs in Dublin or the Provisional IRA could have carried out the heist, which netted the raiders up to €4 million.

A security van driver, his wife and two teenage children were kidnapped and held hostage in an ordeal lasting 12 hours.

The armed gang, numbering at least five men, ordered the driver to report to work as normal and deliver the van’s cash to the raiders.

In a robbery with striking similarities to the Northern Bank raid in Belfast last December, the gang:

Broke into the home of Paul Richardson and his family in Raheny, north Dublin, on Sunday night.

Took the man’s wife and children to Cluain Wood, a remote forest near Enniskerry overnight.

Kept Mr Richardson in his house and ordered him to report to duty yesterday morning.

Instructed him to drive his security van to a rendezvous point in Strawberry Beds, near Phoenix Park.

Stole between €2m and €4m in cash from the Securicor van.

Dumped Mr Richardson near Mullingar, Co Westmeath.

“Apart from the paramilitaries, there are only two gangs in Dublin capable of doing this,” a garda source said last night. He said the criminal gangs, one based in Finglas, north Dublin, and a second, based in Tallaght, south Dublin, were “well capable” of organising and executing such a job.

The gangs are heavily armed, have a stock of stolen high-powered vehicles and have carried out a large number of heists.

Taoiseach Bertie Ahern said the robbery bore “all the hallmarks of a well-organised paramilitary group”.

“In this case, without any evidence, I would look at either a very small group of criminal gangs that would be able to do this or to paramilitary groups, whether paramilitary groups of a large scale or breakaway groups,” he said.

Some garda sources were sceptical of claims the Provisional IRA were behind the robbery and said the Real IRA was too disorganised to carry out such an operation.

Gardaí and industry sources said they were extremely concerned at the emergence of so called ‘tiger kidnappings’ here.

Tiger kidnappings are robberies in which a key employee is forced to perform the orders of kidnappers while his family is held hostage.

Assistant Commissioner Martin Callinan, who is leading the investigation, said Mr Richardson was “targeted” by the gang.

He said the gang broke up into two groups, one staying with Mr Richardson, while the other group kept his wife and children, aged 15 and 17, overnight in a jeep in Cluain wood.

Mr Richardson’s family were released early yesterday morning, but were told not to seek help for an hour. They were found, with their hands tied, by a forest ranger.

Assistant Commissioner Callinan said they were “very traumatised”.

He appealed to anyone who saw anything suspicious in Raheny, Strawberry Beds, Cluain wood or Enfield to contact gardaí.