Gardai dust the ATM for prints
Gardai believe that a group of former Eastern European soldiers were behind an attempted ATM heist in south Dublin this week where the machine was blown out of the wall.
Detectives suspect that a group of former military men from Latvia and Lithuania were responsible for the daring raid on the AIB Banklink at the Knocklyon shopping centre in the early hours of Tuesday morning.
Four men wearing boiler suits and balaclavas pulled up in a car at 4am.
One of them kept lookout while a second spray-painted a CCTV camera in an effort to prevent their movements being recorded.
A third man used a drill to pierce the machine and gas was then pumped into the ATM.
It was then exploded remotely in a bid to blow the machine off the wall and collect the cash.
However the gang miscalculated the amount of gas that was required, so the explosion was not powerful enough.
While the mob fled empty-handed, gardai are very concerned about the development and say it marks a major escalation in the modi operandi of criminals.
Previous attempted ATM robberies have involved crude methods, such as a digger attempting to pull the machine from the wall.
The gas method has only been used once before, in Enniscorthy, Co. Wexford, in February, and gardai believe the same gang was responsible.
Sources say the main line of inquiry being pursued is that the gang are Eastern European and served together in the army, hence their tight discipline and teamwork.