Minister for Justice Alan Shatter has asked the Garda to investigate whether An Post followed agreed security protocols during the robbery yesterday of €550,000 from a Co Louth post office.
The money was taken from Drogheda Post Office after a 2½-month-old baby and her mother were held hostage overnight by an armed gang.
Yesterday’s incident is the latest in a growing number of robberies targeting An Post employees and the post offices where they work.
Mr Shatter described the kidnapping and robbery as “deplorable”.
“This is one of the most vicious forms of crime and our sympathies go out to the victims,” he said last night. “Based on initial information I have received, I have asked the Garda authorities to let me have a detailed report on the circumstances surrounding the incident, including, in particular, whether agreed procedures for dealing with this sort of incident were followed.”
The key protocol agreed between the Garda and the banks, An Post and cash-in-transit companies is that money to free a hostage should not be taken from premises unless gardaí have been informed.
When this protocol has been followed in the past, it has allowed gardaí to put in place rapid reaction operations that in some cases have foiled such robberies and led to arrests.
The family’s ordeal began at 10pm on Monday when two men, one carrying a handgun, forced their way into the family’s home in Forest Park, Drogheda. The man works at the post office on West Street, Drogheda.
The family were held for a number of hours in their home. In the early hours of yesterday morning all three were taken away by the gang in the family’s silver Opel Corsa.
The woman and her baby were held hostage throughout yesterday morning and early afternoon while her partner was ordered to go to work as normal in the morning to get money for the gang.
He was told his partner and baby would be harmed unless he did what he was instructed to.
The raiders appeared to have detailed knowledge of a delivery of cash to the post office just after 10am.
The money was to be used to pay children’s allowance payments, which can be collected from a post office on the first Tuesday of each month.
The post office worker was instructed via phone to go to a drop-off point with the cash. He left the money, some €550,000 in total, at that location, and his partner and child were released unharmed some hours later.
They were found at 1pm yesterday – some 15 hours after their ordeal began – walking along a roadway at Damastown, Dublin 15, on the Tyrrelstown to Clonee road.
Supt John Gilligan said the fact a baby had been held hostage was a particularly upsetting feature of the case. “This is a horrible situation for people to be in. The criminals are taking advantage of people and their families for the purpose of taking money from financial situations and we condemn this. We are asking anyone out there who has information to come forward and assist us.”
Local gardaí are investigating the robbery, backed by detectives from the Organised Crime Unit and National Bureau of Criminal Investigation, the force’s serious crimes squad.
Gardaí want to speak to anyone who was near the home of the targeted family at Forest Park from Monday evening until midday yesterday, or anyone who may have been around the area of the West Street post office yesterday morning.
The post office is a short walk from Drogheda Garda station. Gardaí are also keen to speak to anyone who may have seen anything suspicious in Damastown yesterday morning.
They are also seeking witnesses to the burning by the kidnap gang of the silver Opel Corsa, which was set on fire on the Summerseat housing estate in Clonee at 11.30am yesterday.