HOW EVENTS UNFOLDED:A PLAN to force a senior An Post executive to hand over more than €100,000 as a ransom payment for his wife failed yesterday when the gang apparently fled during the kidnapping.
An Post mails operations director Liam O’Sullivan, his wife Mary and their two children, were held up by armed raiders in their Co Kildare home on Monday night.
Gardaí said at least four armed and masked men burst into the O’Sullivan family home Ard Na Gaoithe, Fennor, about five miles south of Kildare town, at about 9.30pm.
The raiders held the family hostage for 90 minutes before some gang members left with Mrs O’Sullivan. It is believed she was taken to a shed near Rolestown, close to Dublin Airport, where she was held overnight.
Mrs O’Sullivan is a sister of South Kildare TD and Fianna Fáil party whip Seán Ó Fearghaill, who lives less than a kilometre away from the O’Sullivan family on the same road.
Mr O’Sullivan was ordered to go to work as usual at the GPO in Dublin yesterday morning, taking his children with him. He had been instructed that once there, he was to remove a sum in excess of €100,000 and drive north in the vicinity of Dublin Airport.
Mr O’Sullivan had been given a prepaid mobile phone by the gang who said they would contact him with directions as to where to leave the cash.
However, having left with the cash as instructed, the gang failed to call Mr O’Sullivan and he returned to An Post.
Mrs O’Sullivan, who had been left alone, managed free herself shortly after 9am and contacted gardaí. The gang had apparently fled.
No money was handed over and Mrs O’Sullivan and her family were reunited later yesterday morning. They were said to be safe and well although traumatised.
It was uncertain if the issue of the cash leaving An Post was in keeping with anti-kidnapping protocols agreed between gardaí and commercial enterprises.
Neighbours said they knew nothing of the drama under way in the O’Sullivans’ two-storey neo-Georgian house, which is surrounded on three sides by fields.
The family were not at their home yesterday afternoon. The house was being forensically examined by a team of Garda personnel. Four gardaí could be seen examining downstairs windows as a uniformed garda stood guard at the gate.
A silver Mercedes car, registration number 11 D 13049, which gardaí believe was used in the kidnapping, was found burned out in the Boroimhe area of Swords yesterday.
Gardaí have appealed for information on the vehicle and another car, a silver Honda CRV registration 05 DL 42750, which they believe was also used.
Anyone who may have seen the vehicles in the Fennor area or in the areas of Rolestown and Boroimhe is asked to contact gardaí.
The raid and kidnapping has been condemned by the Irish Post Masters Union, which expressed its support for the O’Sullivan family.
The union said the vast majority of An Post employees do not have access to cash and it appears in this case that the agreed protocols set up to tackle this type of crime worked.
An Post said “a serious incident” took place overnight involving a senior manager and his family. A statement said everyone was safe and the matter was with the Garda.
Anyone with information is asked to contact Newbridge Garda station on 045-440 180, the Garda confidential line on 1800-666 111 or any Garda station.