Gardaí investigate Kildare link to smaller robberies

Gardaí are investigating whether those responsible for this morning's armed raid in Co Kildare are also behind a spate of robberies on hotels in the midlands over the past six months.

Two gardai, who were called out to the Clonard Court Hotel in Athy in the early hours of this morning, were held at gunpoint by four masked men who were armed with shotguns and a sledgehammer.

They left with a small sum of cash in a stolen red jeep which was later found abandoned in a field on the Dublin Road.

Gardaí believe the gang is also responsible for a number of raids over the past six months on hotels in Carlow, Meath, Kilkenny and Wexford.