Ahern: Amount stolen in bank raids can't be revealed
The Justice Minister Dermot Ahern has said he can't reveal the total amount of money taken in so-called "tiger kidnappings" for Garda operational reasons.
Mr Ahern has told the Dáil that five such raids involving bank employees and their families have happened this year.
In one case some €7.6m was handed over.
Minister Ahern said he is concerned one of these robberies will take a nasty turn with someone being injured and that large amounts of cash are getting into criminals hands.
Mr Ahern said: "Absolutely, the Government is also worried, another reason to be extremely worried, in that large amounts of money are getting into criminals hands and feeding into their continuing crime whether it's drugs or whether it's illegal firearms, etc so that's another worry for the Government."
