Gang use digger in double ATM robbery
DETECTIVES are probing if the leader of the gang involved in the murder of Detective Garda Adrian Donohoe was involved in the audacious robbery of two ATMs using a digger in Meath.
The gang responsible are also suspected of being behind three similar robberies in counties Cavan and Monaghan.
Two ATMs were ripped from separate banks on John Street, Kells, Co Meath, before the raiders fled in separate vehicles early yesterday morning.
The crime group who carried out the “professional and organised” robbery also placed spikes outside a local Garda station to prevent a quick emergency response.
Gardaí are following a number of lines of inquiry, including that a mob led by a south Armagh criminal – who is in his late 20s and suspected of involvement in the murder of Det Gda Donohoe – were behind the latest ATM heist.
Senior Garda officers say a gang based in south Armagh carried out the three raids in Castleblayney, Co Monaghan, and Kingscourt and Ballybay, Co Cavan, recently. Those robberies netted between €200,000 and €250,000 and takings in yesterday’s raids are estimated at €200,000.
The gang yesterday abandoned a stolen teleporter and trailer at the scene as they made their escape from Kells Main Street.
They bring the number of ATM robberies, north and south of the Border, to 16.
Around the same time as the Kells robberies, ATM machines in Craigavon, Co Armagh, and Crumlin, Co Antrim, were also hit.