Tiger kidnapping arrests

GARDAÍ arrested two men yesterday in connection with a tiger kidnapping in west Dublin last October.

The first arrest was made yesterday morning and was followed by a second arrest yesterday afternoon.

They were arrested in relation to the false imprisonment of a family of a bank official on October 23 last and the robbery of an estimated €300,000.

The first man, a 42-year-old father, was picked up at his home near Crumlin village, south Dublin, by gardaí. He is well known by gardaí in Crumlin.

It is understood the arrest came after gardaí got a match to samples recovered from a car used in the tiger kidnapping with samples taken from a separate, high-profile investigation in Dublin.

The second man, aged 31, was arrested later in the Phibsboro area.

The men were taken to separate Garda stations. Both are being detained under Section 50 of the Criminal Justice Act 2007, which allows for up to seven days in custody.

Two young children, aged just three and six, were taken hostage in the kidnapping, which was carried out by four masked and armed men. The gang forced their way into the family home in Johnsbridge estate, Lucan, west Dublin, in the early hours of that morning. The two children and the father were taken away in a van, while the wife was directed to drive to work, a Bank of Ireland branch in Inchicore, south Dublin, and ordered to get cash for the safe release of her family.

She told her colleagues and took away around €300,000 and left the cash in her car at a nearby car park. Her husband and children were later found unharmed.