Detectives are searching for an armed gang that robbed an estimated €100,000 from a security van in Wicklow this afternoon.
The van was making a cash delivery to an ATM at a shopping centre in Arklow town when it was held up by three raiders at 1.40pm.
A Garda spokeswoman said that one of them fired shot from a sawn-off shotgun during the raid, before escaping with the money in a car.
The car was later found abandoned in a nearby housing estate and the men are believed to have made their way onto the Arklow by-pass on foot. Gardai have appealed to anyone who was travelling on the Arklow by-pass between 1.40pm and 2pm to contact them if they saw the men. No-one was injured in the raid.
Last year the Gardaí set up Operation Delivery to target gangs involved in a series of robberies on ATMs and security vans. According to the Irish Bankers Federation, there are more than 1,500 ATMs around the country, which is triple the number in 1991.
These are refilled constantly to cope with some 206 million withdrawals every year. The National Bureau of Criminal Investigation, the Emergency Response Unit, the Criminal Assets Bureau and local detective units are taking part in Operation Delivery.
Gardai are appealing for anyone travelling on the bypass between 1.30pm and 3pm to contact them at 0402-32304.