'Tiger' kidnap cashiers 'should not risk safety'

Bank workers’ representatives claimed today that cashiers and branch staff should not be criticised for handing over cash when their friends or loved ones are taken hostage in a ’tiger’ kidnapping.

The Irish Bank Officials Association (IBOA) hit out after gardaí and Allied Irish Banks continued investigations into why a bank clerk was able to hand €200,000 over to an armed gang holding his housemate hostage.

Larry Broderick, IBOA general secretary, said bank staff under serious duress should not be forced to take even more risks with their safety.

“Whatever other procedures may be in place to flag abnormal withdrawals of cash in bank branches, it is intolerable that a bank official under threat to his or her own life or those of loved ones or friends should also now be expected to take risks with their safety,” he said.

“Considering that senior executives in the banks managed to lose billions for nothing more than greed, it is a bit rich to criticise ordinary bank staff for handing over thousands under extreme duress when their lives and those of others are directly threatened by armed criminals.

“Apart from a review of the operation of internal procedures in this particular case, I believe that other pertinent questions should also be asked, such as why it is still deemed necessary to hold such large volumes of cash in branch offices and why banks are still loath to make proper provision for the personal protection of their staff in their homes as well as in the workplace.”

The clerk was at home in the Kiltipper area of Tallaght, south Dublin, on Monday night when the three-man gang, two armed with handguns, took him and his housemate hostage.

The friend was taken from the home while the bank worker was ordered to work as normal, then to take the cash and hand it over at the Red Cow roundabout at lunchtime yesterday. The alarm was not raised until the housemate was freed on the north-side of Dublin.

Investigations are focusing on the gang, how the bank clerk at the AIB branch on Crumlin Cross, Dublin, had access to €200,000 and also why the bank worker or colleagues did not raise the alarm.

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

Mr Broderick added: “For our part IBOA is contacting the retail banks and the Garda authorities for an urgent review of all aspects of security in order to ensure that our members’ safety receives the highest priority.”