GARDAI in Galway are hunting a man who dragged a taxi-driver from his vehicle at knifepoint and bundled him into the boot of the taxi before driving for up to an hour with the cab-driver in the boot.
The incident, which gardai say they are treating very seriously, happened on Friday night at 10 p.m. in Salthill.
It comes almost two years after the murder of Galway taxi-driver Ms Eileen Costello O'Shaughnessy. Despite an intensive Garda investigation, nobody has been charged with her murder.
This latest ordeal for a Galway taxi-driver began when a man in his 30s produced a knife and ordered the taximan to keep driving and follow his instructions.
At the entrance to a housing estate known as the Bailey the passenger ordered the driver to stop and dragged him out the passenger door. The assailant then bundled the driver into the boot and drove off in the taxi, a dark green Galway-registered Opel Vectra.
After driving for about an hour with one stop, the car came to a halt and the taxi-driver heard his abductor get out and walk away.
After about 30 minutes the taxi-driver forced his way out of the boot and found he was in an isolated place known locally as Casey's quarry, two miles from the village of Barna.
Supt Mick Curley, who is leading the investigation, said this was a motiveless attack on a taxidriver. He appealed to the public for assistance in tracing the abductor, who is described as in his 30s, 5ft 8in or 5ft 9in tall, of stocky strong build, with a round face and dark hair tightly cut. He wore a blue fleece jacket zipped up to his chin. The number to call is (091) 521333.