Stolen coins can be exchanged in Central Bank

The Central Bank has conceded that €71,000 in stolen pre-euro coins can be exchanged in the bank. The admission follows a robbery in Dublin yesterday morning during which £56,000 (€71,000) in pound coins was stolen from a charity lock-up by an armed gang.

Some €100,000 worth of pound and sterling coins was stolen during the armed raid at the Pennies From Heaven charity which is based at Clancy Barracks, Islandbridge.

The only place the thieves can cash in the old coins is at the Central Bank.

A bank spokesman last night said names and addresses were taken from people exchanging £500 or more worth of coins at any one time but smaller amounts could be exchanged over the counter without any personal details being surrendered.

It means the thieves could make a series of undetected visits to the bank over a long period exchanging under £500 worth of coins each time. "While we will be vigilant, it would be very hard for us or any financial institution to detect this," the spokesman said.

The Central Bank is still accepting old coins for euros and has not set any deadline for ending the process. About 200 people still exchange old pound coins for euros at the Central Bank every day.

The money was taken by a three-man armed gang between 2.45 a.m. and 3.45 a.m. yesterday. The gang overpowered civilian guards at the barracks, tied them up and made off with a pallet full of coins in a van.

Pennies From Heaven is a special charity set up in 1999 to collect pound coins around the time of the euro changeover. It is appealing for the return of the money.

The stolen money was one of the last batches to be counted and bagged. It was ready for transportation to the Central Bank when the robbery took place.

The rest of the money collected, believed to be well over €7 million, had been transferred to the Central Bank in a series of batches in recent months.

The haul included 66,000 Irish coins, 46,000 of which were £1 coins along with 20,000 50p coins. The rest of the money was made up of £25,000 in 20p sterling coins.

The Pennies From Heaven campaign was much more successful than had been anticipated. While it was only intended to collect pound coins, large quantities of sterling and other international currencies were also donated.