Gang boss plotted tiger raid from jail, say Gardai

Issued : 15 September 2009


Irish Independent

A Dublin criminal, who is based in Cavan, is the prime suspect for the latest tiger kidnapping in which a gang made off with €130,000 from a northside branch of the Bank of Ireland.

The thugs forced bank official Antoinette Clarke to collect the cash from her branch in Coolock village while they held her partner hostage.

The gang held Mark Buckley captive in a van and he didn't manage to free himself until almost five hours after he had been taken from his home in Lusk.

Gardai believe that planning for the tiger kidnap was originally carried out by a north inner city criminal, who has an address in Lusk. However, the crime boss is in prison at present awaiting trial on a firearms offence.

Senior garda officers suspect that he "sold on" his kidnap plans to another gang, led by a well known robber, who is originally from Coolock but living at the moment in Cavan. The Cavan-based gangster is believed by detectives to have carried out a series of armed robberies in recent years and is regularly placed on a short-list for similar crimes.

Last night gardai and senior officials from Bank of Ireland were carrying out separate inquiries to establish if all of the agreed protocols for tiger kidnappings were maintained last Friday. If any of the protocols were breached, it is expected that the garda authorities will call in bank management figures for an urgent meeting on security.

Last February, security at Bank of Ireland was placed under the spotlight when another bank official was forced to hand over €7.5m in cash while members of his extended family were held hostage.Ms Clarke was abducted on Friday morning when she returned to her home at the Dun Emer estate at Lusk at around 9am.

Money
She was given instructions to withdraw the money and at around 11am she left the cash in a gold coloured car, which was a designated drop off point, at Greenwood Avenue in Coolock, before returning to the bank.

Meanwhile, Mr Buckley was being held in a white van at Carraigmore Estate, Citywest, near Tallaght. He freed himself and was uninjured.

Last night Larry Broderick, general secretary of the bank officials' union, IBOA, described the kidnap as a worrying development for all bank employees.
"The targeting of innocent citizens and their families in this way is wholly unacceptable", he said. "It is not part of anyone's job description, nor should it even be tolerated as a necessary evil."

Tom Brady Security Editor