Two people have been arrested in connection with the hijacking of a taxi in Co Galway, during which the taxi driver was thrown onto a motorway.
The hijacking incident occurred just before midnight on the M18 motorway. Two males had hailed the taxi in Loughrea at about 11.30pm on Thursday.
They asked the driver to bring them to a location some distance away. Once on the motorway they attacked the taxi driver and ejected him from the car before driving off.
The taxi driver, a man in his 40s, received minor injuries in the incident and was able to raise the alarm a short time later.
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Gardaí began searching for the car. It was spotted in Claregalway and a "managed containment operation" was put in place involving several units, including the armed Regional Support Unit, the Garda said in a statement.
Following a chase, the car was brought to a stop in Bóthar na dTreabh and two men fled on foot before being caught and arrested.
The men, one aged in his mid-20s and the other in his early 30s, are currently detained at North Western Region Garda Headquarters in Murrough, Co Galway, under section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act, 1984.
