Subversives may be involved in botched kidnap
The Garda Special Detective Unit has been drawn in to assist detectives after one of the three raiders was described as having a Northern accent.
Senior officers yesterday said it was too early to draw definite conclusions from this, but said they would be investigating the possibility of involvement by subversives or former subversives.
It would not be the first time of subversive involvement in so-called tiger kidnappings in recent years. In 2005, a man with IRA convictions was sentenced to 20 years for the kidnapping of businessman Gary O’Donovan and his wife, Katie, in May 2005 in Cork.
It emerged yesterday that the three armed and masked men that entered the rented home of a security company employee came from a diverse geographical background.
Gardaí said one of the raiders had a Dublin accent, one had a “country” accent, while the third had a Northern accent.
“This is interesting and may suggest a former subversive. It is something we will look at,” said a garda source.
But he said this could just show that former subversives were now mobile criminals and interacted and worked for other criminal gangs.
The latest tiger kidnapping is the fifth in north Dublin since last August, three of which were botched and had to be aborted.
Gardaí said they would examine any possible links with the other incidents.
Detectives said they would investigate the possibility the raiders had inside information.
Tiger kidnapping involves the abduction of an employee of a company and his or her family or friends. The employee is forced to hand over cash to secure the freedom of the hostages.
About 8pm on Sunday, three armed and masked men forced their way into a rented house in the Broadmeadows area of Swords.
The house was occupied by two men, one the employee of Chubb security company, aged in his early 30s, and a foreign national, aged in his late 20s.
They were bound hand and foot by the captors, who issued a number of threats. A third occupant of the house arrived home about 2am and was also held captive.
Two of the hostages were taken to a derelict house in the Oldtown area of Swords during the night.
About 5.15am, the Chubb employee was told to report to work as normal and drive his security van to a rendezvous point.
Shortly after 7am, the two men managed to free themselves and went to a nearby home and alerted the gardaí.
About 8am, an armed garda unit intercepted the security van, which is estimated to have been carrying around 1 million. Gardaí would not say what happened at the rendezvous point. They said a number of searches were underway.
Garda sources said some of the hostages suffered injuries, but would not say how they were inflicted.
Gardaí were trying to trace a blue Isuzu estate jeep used by the raiders. They would not disclose the registration.
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