ATM Robbers Hunted

The bank are facing further losses as - despite a major cross-border police air support operation being launched early yesterday - there's still no sign of the latest ATM to be taken.

Neither content nor the machinery of the automated teller machine has been seen after a gang targeted the ATM machine shortly before 3am at a store in the tiny border village of Forkhill, a few miles from Crossmaglen. Today, as the search continued on both sides of the South Armagh border for the gang involved, it was revealed that the unit was in a stand-alone position at the store in the village's Main Street.

It was believed the gang may have been operating from the Irish Republic and searches were conducted at some isolated locations where it was thought the raiders might have abandoned a vehicle.

Gardaí in Louth and Monaghan were alerted about the raid early yesterday morning and checkpoints were set up at Border crossings.

Gardaí and the PSNI have jointly appealed for any information about yesterday's raid.

It is only the latest of an embarrassing and increasingly brazen series of such robberies across both rural and suburban parts of Ireland.

In this case, it is believed the raiders used a Volkswagen car to make their getaway.

See: ATM Security Boosted

(BMCC/GK)