At the beginning of 2011 The Irish Observer warned that ‘republican’ terror groups would be focusing on tiger-kidnappings and security van robberies to bolster their finances. Recently a senior member of the Provisional IRA who is now running with the Real IRA was charged and remanded on charges relating to the largest and most sophisticated money counterfeiting operation ever discovered in Europe.
In the latest tiger-kidnapping, a woman and her teenage son who were victims of a robbery-related kidnapping in Northern Ireland were last night located in the Republic at Mullyash near Castleblayney, Co Monaghan.
The pair were freed after being abducted and moved between a number of locations, until locked in an isolated shed near the Border.
An armed gang had forced their way into the house of an employee of security company Brinks Matt in the Belfast area at 10pm.
His wife and son were taken hostage, and the man was forced to go to his place of work, from which the gang escaped with more than £200,000.
A security cordon was thrown around the Mullyash area as a huge joint Garda and PSNI operation got under way.
The fire service was called to the area after a vehicle was found on fire near the house where the couple were found by a local resident.
It sounds like Irish security has done very well.