Bank agreed to open safe after employee’s family were held hostage

NATIONAL Irish Bank (NIB) agreed to demands to open its safe at its branch in Killester, North Dublin, because of a serious threat to the safety of an employee and his family who were held hostage by a gang, it emerged yesterday.

Suspicion grew yesterday that the criminals who made off with up to €300,000 may have had crucial inside knowledge regarding a bank’s security procedures.

The bank also acceded to demands from the gang not to notify gardaí. Senior officers are understood to be angry they weren’t informed.

Four men, some of them armed, forced their way into the home of Marion Dunne, and her three children, at Baldoyle, North Dublin, on Monday night.

At around midnight, Marion and one of her daughters were taken by some of the gang to a nearby field and held overnight.

The remaining criminals ordered her son, Graham, a 23-year-old junior official at the Killester branch, to go to the bank before it opened on Tuesday morning, withdraw cash, take it to a rendezvous point and hand it over to gang members, after which his family would be released.

It is understood that before this the gang ordered Graham to contact NIB and directed him to explain the situation and demand the bank and the safe be opened. It’s possible a gang member also spoke to the bank. It is believed the gang told the bank not to inform gardaí if they wanted to ensure the safety of Graham and his family.

Detectives suspect that, given the risks involved in such a daring operation, lasting over 14 hours, the gang must have known the bank would agree to their demands in such a situation.

They were further likely to have known that the bank would not inform gardaí, if warned not to do so.

Detectives will examine how the gang would have known this.

They will speak to everyone who might have had this information, including current and former bank members. Gardaí say it’s possible the gang may have acquired this information from lengthy surveillance of NIB, including the branch at Killester and its staff. Some gangs are known to have sophisticated bugging and surveillance equipment.

Senior gardaí are reported to be angry at the bank’s decision not to inform them, which might have enabled a more speedy response. As it was, gardaí were not notified until after 11.30am when Marion rang the police.

Gardaí yesterday confirmed that Graham left the Killester branch at 10.30am, with what is thought to be several hundred thousand euro.

Chief Supt Peter Maguire, who is leading the investigation, appealed to companies and employees who feel they are vulnerable to crime to contact them.

“We have a number of highly-skilled crime prevention officers, that are available free of charge to anyone who feels they are vulnerable because of the business they’re involved in, they’re susceptible to this sort of crime. We’re asking people to resort to them.”

He also gave details of one of the raiders. He was described as dressed in black, about 5ft4/5ft5 in height, and appeared to have been wearing some sort of false hair piece, which was blond. He was also wearing a face mask and was described as being in his 50s.