Raiders made off with the contents of an ATM machine after using a stolen mechanical digger to rip it from the wall of a service station in Co Wexford early this morning.
At least three masked men took part in the raid on the Mace Maxol filling station on Bellfield Road in Enniscorthy shortly after 5am.
CCTV footage showed the raiders parked a Nissan Pajero 4x4 vehicle and trailer near the Ulster Bank ATM, which was located in the wall outside the forecourt’s Mace shop, while another man parked an Audi saloon car across the road.
The thieves used a JCB digger, which had been on site as part of ongoing renovation work to the station, to pull down the wall containing the ATM and smash open the machine.
The raiders then loaded the ATM’s safe onto the trailer before making their getaway in the direction of Kiltealy.
The raid lasted less than five minutes and the CCTV footage shows a number of vehicles passing the station as the raiders demolished the wall containing the ATM.
Gardaí would not reveal how much money was taken but it is believed that a substantial amount was involved as the ATM had been filled the day before.
Pat Butler, manager of the station, said considerable damage was done to the shop, which remains closed.
Mr Butler said: “There are renovations being done to the forecourt at the moment and the digger was in there on site”.
"They pulled out the whole area where the cash machine is, it’s just adjacent to the shop. They literally just took the roof off and went straight down and pulled the ATM out.”
Mr Butler said he first heard about the robbery when a member of staff, returning in the early hours of the morning from a wedding, saw gardaí at the station.
Gardaí investigating the robbery have been given CCTV to view and forensic teams are combing the forecourt for clues.
Superintendent Peter Finn of Enniscorthy Garda Station appealed to anyone who was travelling on the Kiltealy road at the time to contact the gardai in Enniscorthy.
The robbery is latest in a serious of raids on ATM machines around the country in recent weeks.
Last Saturday, a gang in Co Monaghan used a digger in a failed attempt to steal a cash machine from a bank.
Thieves partly destroyed a popular truck stop in Co Kildare last month after a digger ripped a cash machine from the wall of a Mother Hubbard’s restaurant in Moyvalley on the N4.