Three men arrested by gardai in Fermoy, Co Cork, were still being questioned last night in connection with a bank robbery in Clonmel, Co Tipperary, on Tuesday afternoon, writes Dick Grogan.
The three, all from Dublin, were held by armed detectives under Section 30 of the Offences Against the State Act just before 11 p.m. on Tuesday as they attempted to leave Fermoy.
Some hours earlier the getaway car used by a gang who held up the TSB bank in Clonmel had been located near the leisure centre in Fermoy. In a follow-up search, gardai recovered three handguns, ammunition and a sum of money believed to be more than £10,000.
The car used in the robbery, a red BMW, had been stolen and fitted with false number plates. Its discovery in Fermoy prompted an intensive security operation in the town and armed gardai were deployed as the search continued.
The masked raiders had threatened a uniformed garda at gunpoint when he chased and confronted them after they left the bank in O'Connell Street, Clonmel. Gardai called in air support as a combined search operation was mounted in Counties Cork, Waterford and Tipperary. The raiders' car was spotted passing through Ardfinnan, Co Tipperary, and was found in Fermoy. Gardai have ruled out paramilitary involvement in the raid.