Teens questioned after jeweller robbed by gang with hammers

Gardaí are questioning a gang of teenagers about a robbery in a jewellers in which staff were held up by at least four youths wearing balaclavas and armed with hammers.

All the glass display boxes in the shop in Balbriggan, north Co Dublin, were smashed by the raiders as they grabbed jewellery and fled. The group escaped in a car waiting outside but later crashed the vehicle.
They then got into a taxi, which was followed down the M1 towards Dublin by an off-duty garda. She followed at a distance when she thought the occupants looked suspicious.

She then alerted her colleagues by phone and gardaí intercepted the men. They recovered some of the stolen jewellery .

Five arrests were made, including four youths in their mid-teens and a man in his 40s. The suspects were detained under section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act and were being questioned tonight in Garda stations in Ballymun, Balbriggan and Coolock.

In a follow up operation, gardaí found a black saloon car in the Balbriggan area. They believe it was the vehicle abandoned by the raiders.

Garda sources said that while the staff caught up in the robbery today at about 5pm were traumatised by the attack, which was described as violent, they were not physically injured.

However, extensive damage was done during the raid and it was unclear last night if the entire substantial amount of jewellery stolen had been recovered.