GARDAÍ BELIEVE an armed gang that assaulted an antique dealer and his wife during a raid on their home in the early hours of yesterday had planned the robbery well and targeted specific paintings at the victims’ home.
The three-man gang, who were wearing balaclavas and gloves and were armed with a hatchet and crowbars, broke into the couple’s house at Rocky Valley, Bray, Co Wicklow between 2.30am and 3.30am yesterday.
They beat and tied up the couple, with both receiving blows to the head and face and the woman suffering a broken nose.
The gang then took a number of items from the house, including paintings, jewellery and cash.
The gang, believed to be from Dublin, are described as being 5ft 10in; 6ft and 6ft 5in in height. They escaped in two cars.
One is believed to have been a silver Fiat Punto or similar, while the other was a silver Nissan Primera or similar. Gardaí in Bray have appealed for anyone with information or who may have been in the area around the time to contact them.
Meanwhile, gardaí in Dublin are investigating two separate and unrelated raids in the city yesterday morning.
In the first incident, a cash-in-transit worker had called to Lidl supermarket on Thomas Street in Dublin’s south inner city at about 8.30am yesterday to collect cash when he was ambushed.
He was grabbed at the rear entrance to the shop on Bridge Street and forced inside the premises by two men armed with a firearm and a knife.
He was taken up to the reinforced door of the shop’s cash office and when an employee inside opened the door for the money to be collected, the two raiders burst in and made off with an estimated €55,000 in cash.
They were driven off by an accomplice in a waiting vehicle, believed to be a silver Honda car.
At about 9.30am, in Walkinstown, Dublin, two raiders attacked the post office on Bunting Road.
They demanded money from staff, and after pointing his shotgun at the head of a customer, one of the raiders then fired a shot at a female staff member behind reinforced glass. She suffered a flesh wound to her face.
The men then ran from the scene empty-handed. A man has been arrested in connection with the raid.
