Three women, including a post office worker, were held by armed men in a house in Co Kildare early this morning in an apparent ‘tiger kidnapping’ attempt.
Gardaí said four men wearing balaclavas and armed with crowbars and a sledge hammer entered the home of the post mistress in Prosperous shortly after 1am.
There were three women in the house at the time ranging in age from mid-40s to mid-70s.
They were all locked into one bedroom in the house and the post mistress was put into car and driven to the post office, a Garda statement said.
The men were unable to gain access to money at the post office due to the security procedures and systems in place.
They brought the postmistress back to the house and she was put back into the bedroom with the two other women. The men then fled the scene and the alarm was raised a short time later by one of the women who managed to escape.
No one was injured.
"This ordeal lasted approximately an hour and a half and anyone who may have seen activity from 1am to 2.30am between the post mistress's house in Ballinafagh and the post office itself in Prosperous is asked to contact gardaí at Naas on 045 884300,” a Garda spokesman said.
“We are making a similar appeal to the public for any information in relation to suspicious activity that may have been seen at either of these locations for up to a week prior to this incident.”
The spokesman said the women had been through a “traumatic experience” and appealed to the media to respect their privacy.
Earlier this month, a garda was attacked by a gang that held four people hostage during a tiger kidnapping and attempted robbery of a post office in Co Roscommon.
Four masked men entered a house adjoining the post office in Clonfad and tied up the former post master.
Just two days earlier, senior An Post manager Liam O'Sullivan and his family were targeted in the incident in Fennore that involved at least four armed men.
The armed gang entered the family’s home and then left, taking his wife as a hostage, about 90 minutes later.
Mr O'Sullivan was ordered to drive to the GPO on O’Connell Street in Dublin and to obtain a sum of money.
The Irish Post Masters Union has said such incidents are an everyday worry for its members.