3 innocent people arrested after raid

GARDAÍ dramatically arrested three innocent people in north Dublin yesterday shortly after an armed raid in Co Louth.

The two men and one woman were handcuffed and pinned to the ground after detectives stopped their navy-blue Volvo S40 on the Swords Road, opposite the Regency Hotel.

The arrests took place about half an hour after a cash-in-transit security van was held up outside a shop in Bryanstown, Drogheda, Co Louth.

Last night, gardaí said they were satisfied that none of the three arrested were involved in the raid and all had been released.

An armed gang held up the Securicor van as it was delivering cash to an ATM machine in Staffords supermarket.

It is part of a small retail centre on the Bryanstown cross route on the southern side of Drogheda and is a short drive from the M1 motorway.

A security man was carrying the cash towards the building when he was approached by two men.

One of the men was armed and fired a single shot during the raid. The cash, understood to have been in a container, was handed over.

The raiders got into a waiting van and drove out the main Drogheda to Duleek road, where its believed they got into one or possibly two other cars. The van was found burnt out a short time later.

About 30 minutes later the Volvo S40 was stopped near Dublin Airport and the three occupants were arrested.

The arrests were witnessed by freelance cameraman Tony McLean.

He was driving towards Dublin on his motorcycle when he was overtaken by two unmarked garda cars.

He followed them and moments later came upon the arrests.

There were five other garda cars at the scene, three of them unmarked, as well as at least one motor-cycle officer and about 10 plain-clothes gardaí.

“A garda had the woman on the ground. Her arms were held behind her back and he was handcuffing her,” said Mr McLean.

“I saw a guy being dragged from the car and taken over to the footpath. Another guy was being cuffed on the ground with a garda kneeling on top of him. The boot of the Volvo was open.”

The three were detained under section 30 of the Offences Against the State Act and held at Santry, Drogheda and Whitehall Garda stations.

Gardaí are asking anyone who may have seen a blue or red saloon-style car acting suspiciously on the Drogheda to Duleek road around 10am yesterday to contact them on 041 9874200.