Armed gang suspected of other raids
Top detectives have been trailing the gang living out of the Dublin area. There were unconfirmed reports that the gang are former members of the IRA.
In the latest robbery, four masked men burst through the doors of the Clonard Court Hotel in Athy, Co Kildare, in the early hours of Wednesday. Just after 2.30am, staff were held at gunpoint by the raiders, three of whom were armed with shotguns and one who was carrying a sledgehammer.
The door was smashed and the reception ransacked. However, while the raiders were gaining access to the hotel’s cash supply, local gardaí arrived on the scene.
Two officers walked into the hotel’s lobby but were then held at gunpoint.
When the raiders left, gardaí were unable to pursue after the robbers took the keys of the patrol car.
The four men escaped with a small amount of cash. A red 4x4, stolen earlier that night in Athy, was used to speed away from the scene.
Gardaí later recovered the vehicle in a field off the Dublin road.
Senior sources yesterday confirmed that detectives with the National Bureau of Criminal Investigation were tracking the gang.
“They come in the middle of the night, they terrorise staff, tear places apart and get the cash,” said a senior source.
The same armed gang are thought to be behind previous smash and grab raids.
On October 21, staff and guests were bound hand and foot when raiders robbed the Strand House Hotel in Kildare town. Guests enjoying a nightcap were terrorised and their property also stolen.
On October 4, raiders with iron bars and a screwdriver broke into the Ardenode Hotel in Ballymore Eustace. During a two-hour rampage, they tied up staff.
In August, masked intruders tied up and held staff hostage in the lobby of the Mount Wolseley Hotel, Tullow, before chasing another member of staff through the corridors of the hotel.
Staff were punched and threatening with a hammer and a large screwdriver.
The alert was raised but not before the robbers escaped with €2,000 of the weekend’s takings.
Gardaí believe the robberies are connected to similar raids at the Mill Race, Bunclody, and the Carlton Abbey, Athy.
The Garda Representative Association’s president John Egan yesterday called for increased numbers of armed garda units nationwide to be “more readily available” to back up officers.
