Raiders escaped with an estimated €140,000 when they ripped an ATM from a south Wexford bank early yesterday. Conor Lally and Brendan Furlong report.
The robbery took place at the Rosslare Harbour branch of the Bank of Ireland at around 3.30 a.m. after a JCB was stolen from a construction site in the village of Killinick, approximately three miles away, on Monday night.
The JCB was driven to the village of Rosslare along the busy N25 roadway, where the raiders first rammed the left side of the wall, after which they used the front bucket of the JCB to scoop out the ATM, leaving a huge hole in the wall.
The thieves, having successfully removed the ATM, used a trailer to transport it from the scene, but left the JCB parked outside the bank.
Sgt Michael Walsh, who is heading the investigation, said the thieves would find it very difficult to open the machine.
"We would appeal to anyone who may have seen the incident or saw the JCB being driven along the busy main road to contact us," he said.
A sign outside the bank informed customers it would remain closed for the day owing to "unforeseen circumstances". Concern is mounting at the level of robberies at ATM machines.
The Minister for Justice, Mr McDowell, has already said that, while the level of bank robberies has fallen in recent years, gangs have been increasingly targeting ATMs and security vans delivering cash to the machines.
More ATMs than ever are now at locations with lower security measures than traditionally seen at banks, including shops and garage forecourts.
One Dublin-based gang was behind a series of robberies of ATMs earlier this year in which almost €1 million was taken. The robberies involved the vaults containing money being ripped from the ATMs as deliveries took place.