Almost €10,000 in cash was stolen by armed raiders who threatened staff at a University of Limerick bank branch yesterday.
Two armed and masked men entered the AIB branch at the university campus in Castletroy at 10.40 a.m. and demanded cash.
The raiders fled on foot and no one was injured in the robbery.
Gardaí have appealed for anyone who was in the vicinity of the bank, which is located on the large university campus, around the time to contact them.
They are not not ruling out a link between the robbery and two other bank robberies in the same area over the last month.
There is speculation that locally-based gang members, possibly of eastern European origin, were involved in all three robberies.
Gardaí would not comment on the speculation but admitted that there were similarities in the modus operandi used in all three raids.
Two weeks ago a lone raider entered the Castletroy branch of the Ulster Bank and stole €1,500 at gunpoint before fleeing on foot.
Four weeks prior to that another raider stole a similar amount from the same branch and on that occasion made his getaway on a bicycle.
The raiders in all three robberies apparently spoke with strong eastern European accents.
Gardaí said they were not in a position to confirm this.