Leading armed robbery gang smashed in post office raid

GARDAÍ believe they have smashed one of the country’s leading armed robbery gangs with the arrest of four men in north central Dublin yesterday morning.

Armed detectives arrested the men, aged between 22 and 40 years, and seized a handgun, during a foiled post office raid.

Members of the Emergency Response Unit (ERU) opened up the facility in the Drumcondra area and caught two of the raiders who had climbed in through a hole they had cut in the roof overnight. Two more suspects were arrested nearby.

The post office, on Lower Drumcondra Road, is adjacent to the ‘St Luke’s’ constituency office of former Taoiseach Bertie Ahern.

Gardaí said the raiders were lying in wait for the postmaster when officers thwarted the robbery shortly after 9am. “The postmaster was approached by gardaí this morning and he didn’t go to the post office,” said a senior officer.

The Organised Crime Unit led the operation. Detectives had been keeping the gang under surveillance for some time. It is suspected of involvement in a number of post office robberies around the country in recent years.

Last night the four were being held at Ballymun and Store Street Garda Stations under section 30 of the Offences Against the State Act 1939.

Garda sources identified one of the men as from the Crumlin area. He is a convicted armed robber and has previously served nine years in prison. He also has a conviction for attacking a garda. The man is connected with other established criminals in the Crumlin area and recently attended the wedding of Paul Ward, a member of the John Gilligan gang.

Although several of those arrested were well known armed robbers, none are believed to be involved in the drugs trade.