Children, 3 and 6, held hostage in tiger kidnap

TWO young children — aged just three and six — have become the latest victims of gangland crime when they were taken hostage in a tiger kidnapping in Dublin.

A massive garda operation swung into operation yesterday to track down the armed robbers, who got away with an estimated €300,000 from a Bank of Ireland branch.

Bank staff and opposition parties have called for a major review of bank security by the government and gardaí, as well as by Bank of Ireland, which has been particularly hit this year.

There were concerns yesterday that the bank may not have followed agreed procedures and immediately notified gardaí of the robbery.

The ordeal for the family began at 1am yesterday when at least four masked and armed men forced their way into a house in Johnsbridge estate, Lucan, west Dublin.

“The family who occupy the house, a husband and wife and their two children a boy aged 6 and a girl aged 3 were held hostage,” said a Garda spokesman.

It appears that at around 6am, a number of the robbers separated the family and took the husband and the two children away in a van.

The woman was directed to drive to work, a Bank of Ireland branch in Inchicore, in Dublin’s south inner city, in a black Toyota jeep.

It is understood the woman arrived at work sometime after 9am, where she told her colleagues what was happening in order to gain access to cash.

She is believed to have left the bank around 11am with an estimated €300,000 and drove the jeep to the nearby Liffey Gaels GAA club car park. She left the cash in the jeep at around 11.45am. However, it is understood gardaí may not have been alerted until noon.

Gardaí would only say the woman left the bank at around mid-day, that the alarm was raised and that gardaí became aware of the incident. The spokesman would not say how gardaí were alerted.

He said the husband and two children were found unharmed at Tougher’s service station in Rathangan, Co Kildare.

There were reports yesterday that one of the children had escaped from the van and alerted other people.

Gardaí appealed to anyone who saw any of the three vehicles concerned to contact them.

The van in which the husband and children were kept in was a blue Opel van, registration 07 D 69990.

A silver VW Passat 99D 60718 belonging to the family, which was taken from their house, has not yet been located. The only description of the car driven by the woman is a black Toyota Rav4 4x4.

Detectives will examine any possible links with gangs involved in other tiger kidnappings. Anyone with information is asked to contact Lucan Garda Station on 01 666 7332 or the Garda Confidential Line 1800 666 111.

It is the third tiger kidnapping in the last six weeks in which bank officials and their families have been targeted. Larry Broderick of the Irish Bank Officials Association (IBOA) said: “We are extremely concerned and we are again calling on the Minister for Justice to call a high level meeting with bank management, gardaí and ourselves, to discuss what’s going on. The focus on Bank of Ireland needs to be investigated.”

He said the raids were “very traumatic” for families affected and “seriously disconcerting” for other bank officials.

Fine Gael’s Catherine Byrne, who represents the Inchicore area, said it was the third bank robbery in the village within a week, including two at the same Bank of Ireland branch.

“I would urge the Bank of Ireland in Inchicore to now review its security procedures.

“Banks in general must review their security procedures, which are clearly failing staff members.

“I am very concerned that individual staff members are able to withdraw substantial sums by themselves. There should be a system in place to limit the size of withdrawals by individual people.”