Three Dublin men were arrested early today in connection with the robbery of a bank in Clonmel, Co Tipperary, yesterday. The three, aged 25, 27 and 53, were being questioned under Section 30 of the Offences Against the State Act, which allows them to be held for up to 24 hours.
The arrests were made in Fermoy, Co Cork, after gardai launched a search for three masked raiders who threatened an unarmed garda who had confronted them seconds after the robbery.
Garda Pat Coffey, who was in uniform, gave chase to the raiders when he saw them emerge from a temporary branch of the TSB at O'Connell Street at about 4.50 p.m. Two of the men, who appeared to be carrying handguns, pointed the weapons at him and shouted at him to get back. Garda Coffey pursued them on foot again as they ran off towards Bridge Street and jumped into a red BMW 525 which drove off at high speed.
The garda commandeered a civilian car and followed the raiders as they drove over Old Bridge and out the Dungarvan road, but he lost them on the outskirts of the town.
A major Garda search and checkpoint operation was mounted in the Waterford-Cork border region and air support was called in. The getaway car was later found abandoned in Fermoy.
The raiders held staff and at least four customers at gunpoint when they entered the bank. One scaled the counter and rifled three tills. No shots were fired during the robbery.
The amount taken in the raid was not revealed last night. There had been no cash deliveries to the bank during the day, but there would have been substantial deposits lodged by businesses following the bank holiday weekend.
It is believed that there were dozens of shoppers on the street near the bank at the time of the raid, and gardai issued an appeal for witnesses. Insp Tadhg Browne said the raiders might have been noticed unmasked as they kept the bank under observation before the robbery.
The TSB bank has been operating in temporary premises while its permanent premises, in Gladstone Street, is under renovation.