An armed man who tried to rob a Dublin city centre bank this afternoon arrived by taxi and asked the unsuspecting driver to wait outside while he attempted to carry out the raid.
The man did not make it back to the waiting cab however as he was arrested by gardaí before he was able to leave the AIB branch on Dublin's Dame Street.
Witnesses told ireland.comthat he told the taxi driver he had an appointment with a barrister in the area and expected to be no longer than five minutes.
He handed the driver a €20 note and left the cab at the bottom of Crane Lane near the bank. The man ran up the lane which links Temple Bar with Dame Street and disappeared.
Growing suspicious, the driver left the cab in search of his fare who had, by this point, discovered alternative travel arrangements had been made for him.
The man was arrested and is being held at Pearse Street Garda Station. No money was taken in the attempted raid, and no one was reported to have been injured.
Gardaí were unable to confirm either how the man had arrived at the scene of the crime or the type of weapon that had been used; they said the investigation was ongoing.
The attempted raid did not disrupt the filming of an ITV film on the lives of Britain's Prince Charles and his new wife, which is being filmed in the Crane Lane area this afternoon.
