The Garda has foiled a highly unusual attempted robbery in which a man claimed he had been taken hostage by an armed gang in an effort to extort €50,000 from his own father, The Irish Timeshas learned.
The man staged a photograph of himself tied up, as another man who was masked pointed a shotgun at his head.
He then told his girlfriend, who was part of the conspiracy, to go to his father's business in south Co Dublin, show him the picture and tell him his son would only be released if he handed over €50,000 to her to take to the kidnappers.
The incident took place on Wednesday but details only emerged last night.
The plan began to unravel when the father, who is originally from Belfast and owns a business in south Dublin, decided to alert the Garda rather than hand over the money to his son's girlfriend to secure the release.
Gardaí in Tallaght profiled the son and discovered he had a history in the drugs trade as a dealer and addict. "We smelt a rat immediately," said one senior officer.
They did not tell the father that they suspected his son was faking his own kidnapping because they feared that would alert his girlfriend that their plan had been foiled.
Instead, a security operation was put in place involving gardaí from Tallaght and members of the National Surveillance Unit (NSU) and Emergency Response Unit (ERU) along with gardaí from Drogheda, where the couple at the centre of the scam reside.
They are in their 30s. He is originally from Belfast and she from Drogheda. The third party involved is a man in his 30s from Belfast.
This third party engaged in telephone contact with the businessman throughout Wednesday. A number of efforts were made by him to set up a drop-off point for the money.
He told the intended extortion victim that unless the cash was handed over, his son would be killed. However, the businessman stayed calm and followed Garda instructions.
This enabled the NSU and ERU personnel to move into an arranged drop-off point near the M50 at 11.30pm on Wednesday.
However, instead of receiving €50,000 the man's son and his accomplice were surrounded by the armed officers and arrested. It was at this time the businessman became aware of his son's involvement.
The woman was arrested at about the same time.
The suspects were being detained at Tallaght and Drogheda Garda stations last night under Section 30 of the Offences Against the State Act. They are expected to be charged as early as today.