Woman at centre of cross-country van search alleged she had been held against her will 

The ordeal began at around 2am on Tuesday when gardaí received a call from a member of the public saying they had witnessed a distressed female exiting a van on the Dublin Road in Arklow

Local gardaí were concerned and put out an internal alert for the van and, in the afternoon, Garda HQ issued a rare media alert. Picture: Dan Linehan

The cross-country search for a van in relation to the alleged false imprisonment of a woman was sparked after gardaí received a 999 call that a woman had got out of a van in Arklow in a distressed state and that she claimed she had been held against her will and beaten.

The member of the public told gardaí the driver had coaxed the woman to get back into the van, which she did and that the vehicle drove away.