Bank clerk forced to take cash to free hostage

A bank clerk took €200,000 from an Allied Irish Bank branch after his friend was taken hostage from their home in a tiger-kidnapping, it was revealed tonight.

The man was with his housemate in Tallaght, south Dublin when a three man gang burst into their home at gunpoint at about 1.30am.

Gardaí said two of the hostage takers were armed with handguns.

The bank worker was ordered to go to work as normal for 9am at the AIB branch on Crumlin Cross, south Dublin and steal the massive sum of money. His housemate was abducted from their home in Deerpark, in the Kiltipper area in the early hours.

It is understood the bank worker was also told to take the cash to a drop-off point at the Red Cow roundabout at about midday.

Gardaí said detectives were not alerted until his housemate turned up in north Dublin at about 1.30pm and alerted gardaí in the Coolock area.

It is understood investigations will focus on the kidnap gang, how the bank clerk had access to €200,000 and also why the bank worker or colleagues at the AIB branch did not raise the alarm before then.

Bank staff are obliged to follow set protocols which involves contacting gardaí and elite detective units to track tiger-kidnap gangs.

A spokesman for AIB declined to comment on the robbery other than to say bank officials had also launched an internal investigation.

No-one was injured in the tiger-kidnap but a Garda spokesman said the two men had been severely traumatised by the gunpoint abduction.

Gardaí appealed for information from anyone who saw anything suspicious in the Deerpark, Kiltipper area between 11pm last night and 3.30am in the morning; at the AIB on Crumlin Cross between 8.30am and midday; and the Red Cow at midday.

The also asked for anyone who may have witnessed anything unusual at the junction of Drumnigh Road and Moyne Road, Portmarnock at about 1.30pm to come forward.

It was the fourth tiger-kidnapping this year after joint Garda and finance sector protocols were widely adopted by the banks.

In May a five man gang targeted a couple at their home in Ballyfermot, west Dublin before the husband was ordered to do the robbery from an Ulster Bank in Kimmage.

The previous month a two man gang kidnapped a bank official’s wife and ordered him to rob the Bank of Ireland where he worked in Raheny.

In January a Brinks Allied security man and his relatives were targeted early one morning by a four man gang in Irishtown before he went to work.