Citizens stare in disbelief as armed gang storms bank

'This armed and masked gang had the town of Cootehill both terrorised and paralysed as they proceeded to raid the Ulster Bank in the busy Main Street.' That is the succinct manner in which the chairman of Cootehill Town Council, Michael McCarey, described a sinister bank raid in the town just after 4.30pm last Friday. The gang left at very high speed from the bank after grabbing a bag of money. It is understood that staff were in the process of putting money in the ATM machine for the weekend when the gang struck. The Anglo-Celt understands that the raid took less than 45 seconds from the time they broke the window and grabbed the money and dashed out the window again. Dazed onlookers told The Anglo-Celt that it seemed much longer. Sources within the banking industry said that busy ATMs can contain more than €100,000 to cater for weekend business. The raiders raced out the Monaghan road, where they abandoned their car at Tanagh and set it on fire. They then jumped into another waiting car and made good their escape. As the raid was going on, it is also understood, several 999 calls were made about it by alarmed members of the public. As the robbers raced from the scene they are reported to have been followed by an off duty Garda. This gang were well prepared and immediately threw out a form of stinger device with spikes, which punctured the Garda car"s tyres and those of and several other cars travelling along the road. The gang either dropped or threw out their gun on the road as they fled from the scene. It was still loaded with at least one live round. The raid commenced when the gang reversed their red Toyota in beside the bank. One raider remained in the car and kept the engine running while another, an athletic masked accomplice rushed to the middle window, which he smashed with a large stone and then threw a carpet mat over the bottom part so that a third raider could quickly enter the bank. Mr. McCarey told The Anglo-Celt that at least 50 people were around the street and in shops watching the raid and they were simply paralysed at the sight of an armed masked man standing at the bank window covering every move on the street with his gun. The Anglo-Celt spoke to numerous eyewitnesses on Friday evening shortly after the raid happened and many were just sitting around wondering how this can be allowed to happen in a civilised society. Some eyewitnesses said it was amazing to think that the raiders foiled alarms, cameras, mobile phones and carried out their daring act in broad daylight. The number of the car was known, the colour of the car was known and all general precautions were in place but they were all blitzed in a couple of minutes by this highly professional and athletic type gang. A number of eye witnesses told the Celt that the raider on guard at the window was completely cool and showed no sign of panic. Another witness said that the raid seemed to last for two or three minutes. 'They seemed to be in the bank for a long time,' he said. Anyone with information is asked to contact the gardai in Cootehill on 0495552105 or the Garda Confidential Line on 1800666111.