Tetra assists gardaí to foil raid

USE of the new Garda telecommunications system, Tetra, led to the fast apprehension of three men following an attempted raid on an ATM, in Castleisland, in Co Kerry, early on Saturday.

Also, tip-offs from several people who saw a mechanical digger being used to rip the ATM from the wall of the AIB Bank, on Main Street, helped foil a €1 million robbery.

The drama started at 4.50am and gardaí from Tralee, Killarney and Listowel rushed to the scene.

Two of the raiders were pursued for about 10km through Lyrecrompane and Dan Paddy Andy’s Cross. A Garda patrol car was rammed before the men abandoned their pick-up truck and made off across fields and bogland.

They were chased and arrested by uniformed gardaí from Listowel, who had to use pepper spray to subdue them, at 5.20am.

The area where they were apprehended is extremely isolated and mobile phone coverage at best is patchy. The men were taken to Killarney Garda Station for questioning.

A third man was arrested near Kilflynn, on the main Tralee to Listowel road, after the vehicle he was driving was stopped shortly before 6am.

Tetra was rolled out in Kerry in May and it meant that all the gardaí who responded to the alert were able to maintain contact with each other throughout the pursuit.

Supt Jim O’Connor, Tralee, said there was a “relay” of information from witnesses, in Castleisland, who had heard the noise on the street, got up and saw what was happening.

’The rapid public response meant that we could react very quickly and inform every Garda division,” he said.

“The Tetra system allows us to pass on all information at the press of a button so that action can be taken. It proved very effective on this occasion.”

The raiders are believed to have experienced difficulty in loading the ATM, which was sitting on the street, onto a pick-up van and then fled the scene.

Senior gardaí believe the arrests are a major breakthrough in their investigations into the activities of a criminal gang operating on both sides of the border and specialising in ATM raids.

One of the men being questioned, aged 45 and from Fermanagh, has been the target of operations by both the gardaí and the PSNI.

He is regarded as a senior figure in an organised criminal gang.