Security van raided by armed gang in Arklow

Gardaí are searching for an armed gang who got away with cash believed to be in the region of €100,000 in a raid on a security van in Arklow.

One security guard was held in an armlock during the raid and one shot was fired before the raiders escaped in a car.

The security van was delivering money to an ATM machine at a shopping centre in Arklow town at 1.40pm.

The car was later found abandoned in a nearby housing estate and the men are believed to have made their way onto the Arklow by-pass on foot.

Gardaí have appealed to anyone who was travelling on the Arklow by-pass between 1.40pm and 2pm to contact them if they saw the men.

No-one was injured in the raid.

A Garda spokesman said that contrary to earlier reports, gardaí were not investigating the possibility that the gang may have planted a dud hand grenade, discovered in a housing estate in Gorey 20 miles away, as a distraction.