multi-million euro raids
Protest could disrupt ATM services
31 March 2005 12:37
SIPTU has warned that cash deliveries and ATM services could be disrupted because of a protest by cash-in-transit security staff.
Branch Secretary Kevin McMahon said that the 600 staff working in the industry were angry that their fears over health and safety were being minimised in the aftermath of yesterday’s €2.4 million bank robbery in Dublin.
Mr McMahon said that members plan to hold a meeting on Friday 8 April at Liberty Hall in Dublin to discuss their health and safety concerns.
If significant numbers of staff from security firms attend the meeting, cash deliveries could be disrupted, as would ATM services on the weekend of 9 and 10 April.
Meanwhile, the Minister for Justice, Michael McDowell, and the Garda Commissioner, Noel Conroy, are to meet representatives of banks and the security industry today.
They will discuss the latest security lapse following yesterday’s security van raid.
Mr McDowell has threatened to ask the Private Security Authority to review the licences of security companies authorised to deliver cash to banks and ATM machines, in the wake of a series of multi-million euro robberies.
Yesterday’s incident in Artane, north Dublin is the latest in a series of cash-in-transit raids which has not only yielded millions for armed gangs but also threatened the lives of security staff and the general public.
It is thought Mr McDowell and Mr Conroy will today ask why cash delivery companies such as Securicor and Brinks Allied have not introduced state of the art systems to deter criminals - such as electronic alarms and dyes which discolour money when cash boxes are opened by unauthorised personnel.
Brinks Allied announced the introduction of such precautions along with new vans last summer.
However, none of those measures were in place when one of its older model vehicles was held up yesterday morning after the crew stopped at a service station for coffee.
Neither Brinks Allied, or the Irish Security Industry Association - the umbrella organisation representing cash in transit companies - were available to comment on the latest raid.
Brinks
Brinks Security Company in Brasil carries values in armored vehicles that generally are not regulated, go up in the sidewalk occupying pedrestrians’ crossing and release a black smoke from the discharge pipe.
Trackback by bala — 3/4/2005 @ 6:19 pm