Cootehill fights back after raid on two banks

Cootehill residents who heard a digger smash the walls of the Ulster Bank and Bank of Ireland at 5.20am on Saturday were reluctant to look out in case the robbers saw them, they told The Anglo-Celt. They didn't want to be seen, but eye-witnesses were quick to dial 999 to alert the gardaí at 5.26am, and their haste was justified as it took the raiders just eight minutes from the time the tractor and low loader carrying the Hymac digger rolled into town to carry out a well planned smash and grab. The people woken by the noises of the digger smashing into the Ulster Bank wall to grab the ATM, and repeating the performance 100 metres down the street in the Bank of Ireland, could hardly believe what they saw. One man told the Celt he was afraid the blazing tractor would explode and other vehicles on the street would catch fire. He said when the gang moved the Hymac to the Bank of Ireland, they took out the ATM with one grab in less than a minute. The machinery used in the raid was stolen three weeks previously, between Carrickmacross and Ardee, and there was speculation that the gang crossed the Border as they escaped in the Clones direction. It emerged yesterday (Tuesday) that the PSNI were carrying out a search of a wood near Roslea, where it was reported that a gravel lorry with a white cab carrying the machines was abandoned. It is also understood that someone spotted a burnt-out hatchback car at Carnmore Road in the Roslea area on Saturday afternoon. The Fire Service in Cootehill received a call at 5.30am and were on the scene within four minutes to see the tractor and digger blazing. Gardaí from Cavan and Bailieboro arrived at that time. The fire brigade sprayed foam on the tractor and digger and soon had the flames under control. Station Officer Malachi Lennon said they closed off the street for about 45 minutes while the flames were being brought under control. Firemen Gerry Ellis and Micheal Boyle said the gang had just gone when they arrived, but despite descending on the town from four different directions, the firemen did not encounter any vehicles. The gang dumped the ATMs into a gravel lorry and left the town in front of a black car in the Clones, Monaghan direction. There were reports that tracker devices were fitted to the ATMs, but they were lost a short time after the robbery. Assistant Garda Commissioner Derek Byrne visited the scene and the garda helicopter was deployed as checkpoints were set up on various Border roads in the aftermath of the raid. Superintendent Colm Featherstone told The Anglo-Celt that the Organised Crime Unit from Harcourt Square in Dublin had come to Cootehill to join in the investigation. An incident room has been established in Monaghan Garda Station, though information from the public in relation to the incident can be relayed to any garda station. Superintendent Featherstone said someone must have seen the heavy equipment coming into Cootehill shortly after 6am. Large ATMs can hold up to €500,000 in cash and while it is not known exactly what size the machines in the Cootehill banks were, it is believed that the gang netted in the region of €400,000. There are indications that some of the Ulster Bank money was contained in a dye exploding box, though it is not clear if it exploded. That might have motivated the gang to steal the ATM from the Bank of Ireland. A senior garda source said that while they are keeping an open mind on who was responsible for this raid, they are examining certain lines of inquiry. "We have established certain patterns in these raids and together with the PSNI, we've begun to focus on the activities of certain people known to us in the Border counties." Later on Saturday shoppers went about their Christmas buying amid a scene that resembled something from a Wild West movie... abandoned, burned-out machinery used in the raids littered the street. Despite the bizarre scene, shoppers were in great humour and stopped to photograph the burned tractor and digger on their mobile phones as the song Driving Home For Christmas belted out from the Northern Sound Roadcaster. Action demanded Cllr. Michael McCarey said the raids in Cootehill resembled a scene from the movies. "Two gaping holes in the banks, two machines gone and all the machinery used in the raid abandoned on the Main Street. "Everything worked like clockwork for the gang responsible for this crime. There will now have to be serious steps taken to ensure that this doesn't happen again in Cootehill. This is the second raid within six months. The first raid happened during the day when they made off with a substantial amount of money; now two machines have been taken away in the early hours of the morning, once again with a substantial sum of money." Cllr. McCarey said business in the vital trading Christmas period was disrupted all day, and was compounded by the cost of the clean-up, the loss of the money, the additional garda costs, fire service costs and the stolen machinery would be hundreds of thousands of euro. He welcomed Assistant Commissioner Derek Byrne's visit to Cootehill: "We will definitely have to look at having a comprehensive network of digital cameras installed in the town and in all the towns around, so that the movements of these gangs can be monitored," said Cllr. McCarey. He called on all shops to facilitate customers with cash back on transactions, so as to make up in some way for the loss of the two busy ATMs. The AIB ATM is inside and only available during office hours. There is also an ATM in John Foy's SuperValu. Cllr. McCarey said they will be pushing the banks to have new machines installed as fast as possible and temporary machines inside both banks would alleviate the situation to a degree. "This double raid is a blow to a town that is doing well, where people work together. We're doing better than most towns our size - we have three banks and good industry and educational facilities. We'll get over this blow, but it's something we didn't want at the mouth of Christmas," said Cllr. McCarey. The president of Cootehill Chamber of RGDATA John Foy and said the raid creates a bad impression, particularly coming so soon after the previous raid, as pictures out TV show a gang can come in and take two machines. It doesn't happen anywhere else in Europe," he maintained. "People will now suffer in terms of having ready access to cash and it's unlikely that new machines will be installed before Christmas," he thought. He said it would put serious pressure on the ATM in his SuperValu, as it is insured for a certain amount of cash. The machine is also emptied every night, if there is any money left in it at closing time. He said business goes on and they went ahead with the €5,000 Cootehill Chamber promotion with the Northern Sound Roadcaster. Mr. Foy wants extra gardaí assigned to the town.