Gardaí believe a criminal gang and not paramilitaries were behind the robbery of over €2 million in Dublin yesterday morning, writes Conor Lally.
The robbery, from a Securicor van, followed the seizing and abduction of a family in Raheny on the north side of the city on Sunday night.
Senior Garda sources told The Irish Times last night that while the involvement of paramilitaries could not be ruled out for a number of days, they were "strongly inclined" towards the theory that the robbery was carried out by a Finglas-based criminal gang.
Detectives are exploring the possibility that the raiders had inside knowledge.
While seizing the Raheny family and then abducting the mother and two sons, some of the gang members briefly took their masks off and as a result may eventually be identified.
Taoiseach Bertie Ahern said the robbery was the work of a well-organised criminal gang or paramilitary group.
"You always suspect in these kinds of raids, this daring kind of raid, either a small group of criminal gangs or subversives or paramilitary groups.
"It certainly does have the hallmarks of a well-organised paramilitary group but as you know the paramilitary groups have moved into criminality and do their own thing as well," Mr Ahern said.
Opposition parties said nothing had been learned from last year's series of robberies from cash-in-transit vans. Labour's spokesman on justice, Joe Costello, said yesterday's robbery raised "very serious questions about the adequacy of security precautions for the transit of such large sums".
The gang believed to have been responsible for the latest robbery is led by two brothers from Finglas. Along with a small number of associates last year, they carried out a series of gun-point robberies as cash was being delivered to ATMs in Dublin and surrounding counties.
About €2 million was taken, none of which has been recovered.
While those robberies did not involve kidnap, there have been several such crimes in Northern Ireland of late. Last year there were 48 "tiger robberies", as they are known, in the North. The most high profile was the £26½-million Northern Bank raid in December. The robberies usually involve the kidnap of a keyholder.
Yesterday's €2 million raid was one of the biggest in the history of the State and will force security companies into a major review of their operations.
Representatives from Securicor, Brinks Allied and other smaller operators are expected to meet senior gardaí to review security and other procedures surrounding the transportation of money in the coming days.
One industry insider said robberies of security vans abated in the second half of last year after the establishment of the Garda's Operation Delivery investigation, aimed at targeting the Finglas gang and other criminals.
However, the same source said the raids had resumed this year with about 15 robberies or attempted robberies so far in 2005. The latest incident was "a wake-up call".
The four members of the targeted Richardson family from Raheny were reported to be shocked but in good health last night. The gang gained access to their home at Ashcroft, Raheny, at about 10pm on Sunday. Ms Marie Richardson, a supervisor for Marks & Spencer in Mary Street, Dublin, was taken from the house in a van or SUV by the gang along with their two sons, Ian (17) and Kevin (13).
The three were held in Cloon Wood near Stepaside until early yesterday before being released.
Securicor employee Mr Paul Richardson was detained in his home overnight. He was forced to go to work at Securicor's Rialto depot and told to leave the depot with his two colleagues in a cash-in-transit van as normal.
The van was driven to the Angler's Rest pub at Strawberry Beds, Co Dublin, where the gang took just over €2 million from the vehicle. Mr Richardson and his two colleagues were then ordered to drive towards Galway in the empty van.