Two more arrests in tiger kidnap probe

Two more people have been arrested today by gardaí hunting a gang which took a bank worker and his family hostage last week.

Seven others who were being questioned over the weekend in connection with the tiger kidnapping were released without charge overnight.

Gardaí said a man aged 30 and a woman aged 21 were arrested in Dublin this afternoon and are being held at Coolock and Malahide garda stations.

They are being questioned under Section 30 of the Offences Against the State Act and can be held for 72 hours.

A total of five suspects are now in custody.

Meanwhile, files on the seven people released are being prepared for the Director of Public Prosecutions. They were among ten people arrested after four armed raiders carried out the fourth tiger kidnapping of the year in Swords, north Co Dublin.

A gang entered the home of the assistant bank manager of Bank of Ireland in Balbriggan and held his family captive overnight.

He then went to work in the morning as normal and removed a sum of cash for the raiders.

The gang got away with about €500,000.