Two quizzed over kidnap of bank official's family

Two people were being questioned tonight after the terrified family of a bank official were held hostage overnight at their north Co Dublin home.

The Irish Bank Officials Association (IBOA) warned lives could be lost unless the authorities move to tackle the criminal gangs after the fourth tiger kidnapping so far this year.

Raiders targeted the assistant manager of Bank of Ireland in Balbriggan, his wife and two sons, at their home in Castlefarm in Swords.

Four armed raiders entered the bank official’s home around 8.30pm last night and seized his family, holding them at a number of locations overnight.

The assistant manager was forced to go to work as normal in the morning while the raiders held his family captive.

The man is believed to have removed a significant sum of money from the Bank of Ireland branch in Balbriggan and deposited it at another location.

After gardaí were alerted to the ongoing raid at 9.30am, an armed Garda unit chased a number of vehicles.

Around midday a man in his 20s and a woman in her late teens were arrested after one car was stopped in Julianstown, Co Meath.

The worker’s wife and two sons were recovered physically unharmed from another car, which was located just outside Drogheda.

Garda Superintendent Kevin Donohoe said: “Around about mid-morning we made two arrests, a male in his early 20s is arrested and detained at Santry Garda Station under Section 30 of the Offences Against the State Act.

"A female in her late teens is being detained at Coolock Garda Station.

“We seized a number of vehicles during the course of the operation and a number of searches were undertaken and more were carried on throughout the afternoon and more are continuing throughout this evening and tomorrow.”

Gardaí said it is believed at least two robbers are still at large after the kidnapping.

Detectives, who seized a number of vehicles, uncovered no weapons and the significant sum of cash stolen in the raid was not recovered.

The family, whose home was sealed off for technical examination by gardaí, are understood to be left severely shaken by the ordeal.

A spokeswoman for Bank of Ireland confirmed one of their branches was targeted in the raid.

The bank said its priority was for the safety and well-being of the staff and family involved in this incident and all its support services had been made available to them.

A neighbour of the family said: “From what I believe they came in last night and held them overnight.”

He added: “I feel very sorry for them, anyone who is held overnight like that… it is not a pleasant experience.”

The Irish Bank Officials Association (IBOA) said it was time Taoiseach Bertie Ahern intervened to ensure the safety of workers.

“It is time the Government started to address this issue seriously before a bank official or a member of their family is seriously injured or worse,” Larry Broderick, general secretary of the IBOA, said.

“This is the fourth incident of a tiger kidnapping in less than a month and IBOA members throughout Ireland are genuinely concerned for their safety and well-being as a result of these robberies.

"It is clear that there is a growing trend whereby bank staff are regarded as particularly vulnerable and viewed as a ’soft-target’ by criminal gangs.”

The association called for the establishment of a joint working group involving gardaí, the Department of Justice, banking and security industry as well as workers to consider measures to enhance the safety of staff and their families.

The association has warned its 20,000 members to think carefully before agreeing to become key-holders.

“It is clear to IBOA that there is a need for a fundamental review of current key-holder policy, as the current policy is clearly putting bank officials’ lives and those of their families at risk,” he said.

This latest incident is the fourth time tiger kidnappers have struck so far this year.

In the first case, on January 7, three armed men took a security firm worker and two others hostage in Swords, north Co Dublin, before demanding cash be handed over from the company.

The attempted robbery was foiled after two of the hostages managed to escape from a derelict house in the Oldtown area of the town and alert gardaí.

In the second incident, two men targeted a young couple in the quiet village of Muff, Co Donegal.

During the cross-border robbery the man was held at the home while his 28-year-old partner was forced to hand over cash from the McDonald’s fast food outlet in Derry’s Waterside.

The last case saw a husband and a wife taken hostage from their home in west Dublin by an armed gang who made off with €2m.

The man was forced to drive from his Lucan home to Carlow to meet fellow Securicor workers, who gave him the cash which he then handed to the raiders.

If he raised the alarm, or failed to get the cash, he was warned his wife would be harmed.

The couple were not harmed during the kidnap, but it is understood they were left severely shaken by their ordeal.

The robberies have become known as tiger kidnappings because the raiders stalk their prey to study their movements before striking.

Before carrying out the raid, the gangs require a detailed knowledge of bank or security staff routines, job responsibilities and family ties, which may come from old workmates.