Six men and a woman have been arrested by detectives in the hunt for an armed gang who escaped with a 7 million euro (£6.2m) cash haul from the Irish Republic's largest ever bank heist.
The so-called tiger-kidnapping targeted junior Bank of Ireland employee Shane Travers who was forced to empty the brand new notes from the company's landmark central Dublin branch.
A six-year-old boy was held hostage at gunpoint for seven hours with two women during the so-called "tiger kidnapping" before the six-strong gang tied them up and abandoned them in a van on the side of a motorway.
Terrified employee Mr Travers, 24, was forced to raid Bank of Ireland's central Dublin branch and load his car with laundry bags stuffed full of brand new notes from the landmark College Green vaults.
The seven million euro haul was ready for distribution and senior security sources believe they can trace the fresh cash and spot laundering attempts by matching the serial numbers.
Prime suspects are a notorious organised crime gang from Dublin's northside.
Detectives inspected four crime scenes as bank chiefs prepared for senior gardai to drill them on the necessary security measures to prevent a repeat of the dramatic dawn heist.
Justice Minister Dermot Ahern said he was shocked Mr Travers, a junior vault worker, had access to such massive sums of cash.
"I would be less than frank if I didn't say that there are issues of concern in relation to how this happened and how this was allowed to happen," he said.
The elaborate kidnap and robbery at the landmark building - Europe's first purpose built Houses of Parliament, overlooking Trinity College - was similar to the £26.5 million pre-Christmas heist carried out by the IRA on the Northern Bank's head office in Belfast in December 2004.
