Two In Court Over College Green Heist

While two men who had been detained as part of the investigation into the robbery of the Bank of Ireland in Dublin last week have been released without charge, two others have been in court.

Darren O'Brien from Lower Gardiner Street in Dublin was charged with handling stolen money and Mark Donoghue from Killeen, Leggan in Longford was charged with money laundering. They were both remanded in custody.

It was reported yesterday that a substantial amount of the €7 million taken by a gang from the College Green Bank had been recovered.

The gang had coerced a bank official by kidnapping members of his family in what is known as a 'Tiger Kidnapping'.

Gardaí found €4m, believed to have come from the country's biggest bank robbery at the weekend.

On Friday, an armed gang forced a bank official to take the money from the Bank of Ireland branch at College Green, Dublin.

They had taken his partner, her mother and a five-year-old boy hostage.

However, arrests were later made with six men and a woman held for questioning in connection with the robbery.

In a dramatic string of swoops across the Irish capital, one house was raided, two cars were stopped and searched, and cash seized.

It has since been reported that Dermot Ahern, the Irish Justice Minister is infuriated that agreed procedures weren't followed by the bank staff.

The police weren't notified about the attack until after the cash had been handed over, with at least one other member of bank staff also failing to use established methods of involving police officers in the robbery alert.

"It is a fact that gardai didn't know about this incident until the money had actually left the bank premises.

"Under normal protocol that shouldn't be the case, because the sooner they know about it, the sooner they can put in the necessary checkpoints," said Mr Ahern.

(DW/BMcC)