THE BIGGEST financial institutions in the State are to carry out a root-and-branch review of their security procedures after meeting with a senior Garda delegation to discuss ways of avoiding a repeat of last week’s €7.6 million tiger robbery of the Bank of Ireland.
What were described by the Garda as “full and frank” discussions took place at Garda Headquarters, Phoenix Park, Dublin, with the Garda delegation led by Assistant Commissioner Mick McCarthy and Chief Supt Pat Hogan.
The officers met for two hours with representatives of all the main banks and building societies, An Post and the Irish Banking Federation.
The institutions have agreed to the Garda’s request that each one of them should review and improve procedures and report back to Garda headquarters as early as next week.
At that point, if senior Garda management is not satisfied with the response of any of the institutions, gardaí will advise the organisations on how to overcome shortcomings.
Yesterday’s talks took place at the request of the Garda Commissioner Fachtna Murphy and Minister for Justice Dermot Ahern following the raid on the Bank of Ireland’s College Green vaults storage facility in Dublin last Friday morning.
Mr Ahern has already expressed his concern that the Bank of Ireland failed to follow protocols in informing the Garda that the raid was under way before ransom money was taken from the premises by bank worker Shane Travers.
The 24-year-old’s partner was being held hostage at gunpoint in a van in Co Meath along with her mother and five-year-old nephew.
Senior gardaí who spoke to The Irish Times said while just under €2 million, believed to be the proceeds of the robbery, has been recovered, almost €6 million is still unaccounted for. Gardaí now fear the money will be invested in drugs in Europe for importation to Ireland.
They are also concerned at the volume and high grade of intelligence gathered by the gang about Mr Travers’s and his colleagues’ living arrangements and their roles in the Bank of Ireland.
The armed gang had taken pictures of Mr Travers’s colleagues and their homes and forced him to present these pictures to his co-workers to frighten them into not raising the alarm until after he had left the bank with the bags of money.
The Irish Security Industry Association said while staff should be offered enhanced security training the courts also had a role to play in tackling tiger raids. Association president Alan Jordan said many people in the banking sector knew the suspects for a lot of raids and the courts must impose “maximum custodial sentences with no bail”.
The seven people arrested in Phibsboro, Dublin, on Friday night were questioned again yesterday. Three attempted to have their detentions ruled void but failed in their High Court actions yesterday. Two men were charged last night in relation to the robbery and were due to appear before the courts this morning. Two other people were released without charge and three others were still being questioned.