Child raised alarm after gang raided family home

A child held hostage by a gang during an aggravated burglary on the home of a Dundalk business family was able to escape and raise the alarm, it has emerged.

During the raid, the gang separated the children from a woman who was the only adult in the house and made demands for money from her.

The family, who are involved in a popular Chinese restaurant chain, was named locally as the Wans.

Tim Wan is manager of the Jade Garden restaurant.

Yesterday the family declined to comment.

Garda Supt Gerry Curley confirmed an adult and three children were in the house in Belfry Gardens when a number of men “forced their way in” about 7.30pm.

A local resident said one of the children was a neighbour’s 10-year-old and was understood to have been tied up while the other two children, aged 12 and 16, were locked into a cupboard. The eldest child escaped and raised the alarm.

The gang was armed with what was understood to be hammers, and escaped with a quantity of cash.

Supt Curley confirmed “the people are involved in a local business in Dundalk”.

He said gardaí would like to hear from anybody with any information or who saw anything suspicious in the Belfry Garden’s area between 7pm-8pm on Sunday.

The gang of up to four men left in a white Citroen Berlingo van.

Louth TD Peter Fitzpatrick (FG) also lives in the estate and said: “This is an awful shock for the local community. Tim and Doris Wan have lived here for the last 15 years and they are great neighbours and a very quiet family.”

Gardaí were carrying out house to house enquiries yesterday and it is believed a number of houses in the estate have CCTV installed.

The raid has similarities to last week’s raid on the home of a family in Castleblayney, Co Monaghan, who are also involved in running a Chinese restaurant.