Tiger raiders missed €20m haul in horror ordeal for couple

A NORTH Dublin crime gang are suspected of carrying out the €170,000 tiger kidnapping of a Brinks Allied director and his wife.

A group of experienced Coolock criminals are believed to have carried out the raid, threatening to kill terrified Shirley Hoyne during the incident.

Despite extensive planning the gang missed at least €20m in cash stored at the Brinks Allied depot in Clonshaugh.

Gardai investigating the robbery have singled out a Coolock outfit as the chief suspects. Members of the gang are known armed robbers, the Herald understands.

Shirley and Bill Hoyne, a senior executive at Brinks Allied, were subjected to a terrifying ordeal at their home in Monasterboice, Co Louth in the incident, which began on Friday evening.

Detectives monitored the handover of the cash, it is understood, but were powerless to do anything until Shirley Hoyne was safely released.

However, officers are confident of making arrests in the coming days.

Mrs Hoyne was abducted and had her life threatened repeatedly during the raid while her husband was brought to the Brinks Allied cash depot in Clonshaugh were he was forced to hand over the money.

She was lucky not to be seriously injured after she was tied up and gagged in a shed behind a derelict building in Howth, Co Dublin, close to where the gang burnt out one of their cars.

Mrs Hoyne was released after fire-fighters, who were called to the scene by passers-by after her Mercedes car was set on fire by the gang, heard her banging on the shed.

By the time she was found, Shirley Hoyne had endured 12 hours of horror.

The kidnappers, in boiler suits and masks, burst into the couple's home in Monasterboice at around 9pm on Friday and held them at gunpoint.

Then, before dawn, they bundled Mrs Hoyne into her silver Mercedes and drove to the Howth Road, where they left her bound and gagged.

Her husband was forced to go to the Brinks Allied depot in Clonshaugh, Dublin, at 7.30am in his Toyota Landcruiser.

The Brinks Allied managing director gave a relatively modest €170,000 to the gang.

The money was left in the Landcruiser at Thatch Road, Whitehall, in Dublin.

The vehicle was found burnt out at around 11.30am in Ashbourne, Co Meath.

Gardai believe that the gang had been shadowing Mr Hoyne and his wife for weeks .

An incident room has been set up in Drogheda Garda Station and a team of detectives, including members of the National Bureau of Criminal Activity, is working with local gardai on the investigation.

They would like to hear from anyone who saw the cars involved in the raid, and have asked people to contact them on 041-987 4200 or on the Garda Confidential Line on 1800 666 111.