High-speed gang steal €25,000 in seconds

A cash-in-transit robbery in Ashbourne last week saw an armed gang of three get away with over €25,000 in cash in seconds. The brazen high-speed daylight raid took place just after midday - at exactly 12.06pm, according to CCTV - when the driver of an armoured cash-in-transit van was collecting money from the Ashbourne Topaz service station at Cookstown. A security guard, who had parked close to the entrance of the station, was leaving with a strong-box of takings and walking towards his van when he was threatened with a hammer by one of the raiders. The guard dropped the box and it was snatched by the thug who immeditaely ran to his own getaway vehicle, where two fellow gang members were waiting - one in the driving seat and one sitting in the rear of a green Seat Inca keeping watch. The three got away with around €25,500 from the attack. Thankfully, the security guard suffered no injuries. There is almost nothing by way of descriptions because the incident happened so fast that no-one inside the shop even knew of the raid until gardai began interviewing staff as potential witnesses. The CCTV footage of the whole robbery lasts less than a minute - "it could be a few seconds even; how long does it take to run 15-20 feet and back again? It was that quick," an Ashbourne garda spokesperson said. Even the security guard himself is not sure of descriptions other than he was told to drop the box while being threatened with the hammer. The other two men never left the getaway van, which was found abandoned at the nearby Ashbourne Business Centre on the Ballybin Road a short time afterwards. Gardai are continuing their enquiries, reviewing what little CCTV footage they have and are appealing to anyone with information to contact them on (01) 801 0600. In April, an armed criminal was foiled in an attempt to rob another cash in transit van in Ashbourne at the Lidl supermarket in the town. According to gardai, the individual approached the guard as he left the store with a shotgun and demanded to be given the cash box. However, the culprit was too late and the worker had already inserted the cash box to the locking system in the van. The man then ran off and got into a waiting silver van, which was later found abandoned on the Ballybin Road in Ratoath.