Two separate gangs suspected of ‘tiger kidnappings’

GARDAÍ suspect this week’s two “tiger kidnappings” in north Dublin were carried out by separate gangs.

Detectives believe Thursday’s kidnapping of a post mistress and her family in Glasnevin was the work of a professional gang, none of whom are thought to be drug addicts.

This contrasts with the abduction last Tuesday of a post mistress in Whitehall by a three-man gang, one of whom was a drug addict.

This man was charged with detaining the post mistress but fell asleep after taking drugs early on Wednesday. This enabled post office manager Mary Noone to escape and raise the alarm.

“There is nothing to indicate that the two crimes are linked at this point,” said one senior officer yesterday.

However, he said the two investigation teams were liaising with each other, and with detectives investigating at least three other tiger kidnappings in recent months.

Gardaí yesterday gave further details on the gang which targeted post mistress Betty Corrigan and her family at their home in Glasnevin early on Thursday.

Detectives said they were now satisfied there were four men in the gang. They believe three of them are aged in their mid-30s, while the fourth is in his early 20s.

Two are believed to have been armed with sawn-off shotguns, while another had a handgun. Gardaí said they were masked at all times and wore gloves.

Detectives believe the gang carried out extensive preparatory work prior to the operation and had good knowledge of the local area.

“This gang was fairly professional. There definitely wasn’t any drug addicts involved,” said one officer.

However, their plan fell apart after the van they were detaining Ms Corrigan’s husband and son in broke down on the M50 after developing mechanical problems.

The two gang members driving the van fled on foot across open ground, while the two men minding Ms Corrigan fled in the family’s two cars.

Gardaí yesterday said they had located the two family cars and were conducting forensic tests of them. A forensic examination on the van continued.

Senior officers in both cases are hoping tests on the two vans may yield forensic clues as both gangs had to suddenly abandon them.