An elderly postmaster, who was tied up and robbed, said yesterday he would have shot the raiders if he had managed to get hold of his gun.
Five raiders wearing balaclavas tied up 75-year-old Mr Anthony Laffan after he refused to hand over the keys to the safe at his shop and post office in Manister, near Croom in Co Limerick on Wednesday night.
The raiders burst into the small premises at around 9 p.m. As the gang struck, the feisty pensioner made an unsuccessful grab for a gun he keeps for security.
"I would have used it. You would have to against five of them. I made a go for the kitchen door to get my gun, but I had the door tied and could not get it open quickly enough" said Mr Laffan.
The raiders overpowered the postmaster and tied him to the banisters of the stairs with flex. During the ordeal, the gang members kept demanding the keys of the safe but the pensioner refused to give in.
Eventually, the raiders brought in an angle grinder and cut open the back of the safe before making off through the rear of the premises with around €3,000. Mr Laffan managed to free himself a short time later and rang the gardaí.
In a raid on the same post office some years ago, the pensioner took on three raiders who eventually fled empty-handed.
The postmaster, who opened for business as usual yesterday, stressed that he would not be driven out of business and repeated that that he would have had no hesitation in firing on the raiders.
Gardaí believe the same gang of criminals may be behind a number of raids at rural post offices in the region in recent months.
Gardaí at Croom have appealed to anyone who may have been in the Manister area at around 9 p.m. on Wednesday to contact them at 061-397 240.