Two men are in custody after gardaí foiled an armed bank raid on Saturday afternoon. One of the men pointed a gun at gardaí, who fired a warning shot before arresting them.
One of those arrested was a close associate of murdered Dublin criminal Martin Cahill. Both men are expected to appear in court as early as today.
Gardaí were alerted to the robbery by passers-by who reported suspicious activity around an Allied Irish Bank (AIB) branch on Crumlin Road in Dublin.
Armed officers were on the scene within minutes and moved in before the raiders had time to leave the area after stealing an estimated €700,000 from staff who were loading an ATM. One shot was fired by gardaí but there were no reported injuries.
The men were arrested at gunpoint. Gardaí recovered the cash and two loaded handguns. A 9mm Smith & Wesson with seven live rounds and an FN pistol with five rounds were recovered .
The raiders, who are in their 30s and 40s, were taken to Crumlin and Sundrive Road Garda stations. They were being questioned under section 30 of the Offences Against the State Act.
They can be held without charge for up to 72 hours.
One of the men, a 42-year-old from Ballyfermot, was a close associate of Cahill. This man has three convictions for armed robbery and in the late 1980s received a lengthy prison sentence following the last of those convictions.
He has recently worked as a self-employed courier. He was refused a taxi licence, with the judge on appeal telling him he was unsuitable to be working with members of the public.
At about noon on Saturday, passers-by noticed suspicious activity around the bank. Two employees were loading cash into ATM machines when they were confronted by the two men.
The attempted raid was the latest in a series of such operations in Dublin following a lull after the establishment of Operation Anvil to tackle armed gangs in Dublin just over a year ago.
On March 28th, a gang rammed a cash-in-transit van at Donaghmede shopping centre, escaping with €600,000. On April 2nd, a lone gunman hijacked an unmarked 4x4 vehicle delivering cash to ATMs in Clondalkin village. More than €800,000 was taken.
On April 6th, a Brinks Allied vehicle managed to speed to safety as raiders tried to ram it in Killester. The same day, a four-man gang was arrested in north Co Dublin as they were about to carry out an armed raid.