Gardai were last night questioning 12 people, including a number of leading Dublin criminals, after three separate operations against gangs suspected of carrying out dozens of armed robberies.
The Garda hopes the arrests and seizure of weapons and stolen cash may have helped stop a rash of robberies by armed gangs over the Christmas period when there is the greatest amount of cash in circulation in the State.
In one of the operations, gardai arrested five men and two women and recovered an estimated £30,000 worth of Irish and foreign currency stolen in the "ram-raid" robbery of the Bank of Ireland branch at Dublin Airport on October 29th.
In the south of the city, local gardai backed up by armed Special Branch officers arrested five men and recovered guns and balaclavas in two operations.
No injuries were reported in any of the operations which senior Garda sources said resulted from extensive investigations into the increase in armed robberies in the State this year.
Senior Garda sources say it appears that many of Dublin's hardened criminals have turned to armed robbery as a way of making money this year. Part of the reason has been that the former big gangs which they belonged to have been broken up by the specialist Garda squads such as the Criminal Assets, Drugs and Fraud bureaux.
The people being questioned in north Dublin yesterday include two brothers and a sister from a well-known family with criminal associations from the north inner city. The three other men and woman, who were all arrested in co-ordinated swoops on 12 houses at around 6 a.m., are also related to the family.
The Garda believes this group has been responsible for as many as 20 armed robberies around the State, mostly outside Dublin, in the past six months. The people arrested are all in their 20s and 30s. They are the second generation of the family to be connected with armed crime.
A father of some of those arrested was a well-known Dublin robber who was involved in the murder of a former associate three years ago.
Chief Supt Jim Murphy, who was in charge of the operation, said: "This was a good investigation by officers, and we have verified that foreign currency recovered was stolen from the Bank of Ireland branch at the airport."
Irish pounds and some 25 different currencies were stolen in the raid, in which a car was reversed through the window of the main airport building, giving the raiders direct access to the banking staff.
In south Dublin armed Emergency Response Unit (ERU) detectives surrounded and arrested two men as they attempted to hold up staff at Jason's Snooker Hall in Ranelagh at about 2.15 a.m.
One of those arrested is a man in his 40s who has served a number of prison sentences and who was a close associate of Martin Cahill, the Dublin criminal known as "The General". Balaclavas, a shotgun, imitation handguns and a claw hammer were recovered.
Then at 11.45 a.m. yesterday the ERU was again involved in an operation in which a car was stopped at Harold's Cross.
Three men, again with known criminal associations in the south of the city, were arrested, and gardai recovered a handgun and balaclavas. It is believed the men were on their way to commit an armed robbery.
As a result of the increase in armed robberies this year both Garda and Army patrols on cash deliveries have been stepped up over the pre-Christmas period.