Three of Ireland's most wanted gangland criminals were in Garda custody last night after the robbery of almost €2 million in cash was foiled.
The three men were among seven arrested as a gang was about to rob an unmarked cash-in-transit vehicle in Celbridge, Co Kildare, yesterday morning.
Four stolen cars, an imitation firearm, balaclavas and cutting equipment were also seized at the scene. One of the men arrested was a member of the crew manning the targeted vehicle.
A major Garda operation was put into place after gardaí received intelligence seven weeks ago that the robbery was being planned. The gang members have been under round-the-clock covert surveillance since early September. The security depot from which the Jeep was trailed by the would-be robbers has also been under surveillance for almost two months.
The gang followed an unmarked Jeep owned by the Chubb security company as it left a depot in Sandyford, south Dublin, at about 9am yesterday.
They followed the Jeep in four stolen vehicles and two of their own cars to the planned robbery scene in the car park of the Tesco supermarket in Celbridge.
However, they were tailed covertly by a rolling convoy of Garda surveillance vehicles. Gardaí watched as the Chubb vehicle crew delivered money for an ATM machine at one premises en route to Celbridge.
When the Chubb Jeep reached Celbridge, the two-man crew took some money from the vehicle to deliver it to ATM machines in the shopping centre, leaving the Jeep with the rest of the money unattended.
While they were inside the gang moved in. Two of them got out of their cars and were about to begin cutting open the reinforced Jeep with an angle grinder to gain access to the money when a team of armed officers arrested them.
Four other men were arrested in vehicles in the car park. An imitation firearm was found in one vehicle, while balaclavas were found in the other cars.
A seventh man, who was a crew member of the Jeep that was to be robbed, was also arrested at the scene. All were being held under Section 30 of the Offences Against the State Act at Garda stations in Naas, Newbridge, Clondalkin and Ballyfermot.
The operation was carried out by more than 50 gardaí. It involved the Emergency Response Unit, National Surveillance Unit and the National Bureau of Criminal Investigation's Organised Crime Unit. These were backed by local gardaí.
Senior Garda sources last night described the arrests of the three central players as "huge". "These guys have been very, very heavily involved in organised crime for years," said one source.
Two of the men are well-known criminals and are regarded by gardaí as being among the most prolific armed robbers in the country. They were the chief suspects in a series of armed raids on cash-in-transit vans over the past five years. Along with other criminals, they carried out so many robberies in 2004 and 2005 that gardaí established a specific operation, Operation Delivery, to combat the cash robberies.
A third man under arrest last night is a suspect for a gangland murder in the city last year.
Gardaí involved in yesterday's operation say they have amassed a large amount of evidence in recent weeks, including photographs and telephone call intercepts.
