In a week which saw yet another armed gang walk away with Euro1.3m in cash after 'tiger' kidnapping the wife of a 67-year-old Securicor employee, it has emerged that Ireland suffers one attack for every three armoured cash trucks on the road. This compares to an EU average of one attack for every 12 trucks, according to the latest figures from the European Security Transport Association (ESTA).

The figures put Ireland rock bottom of the 21 EU countries surveyed by ESTA to assess the risk of an attack on cash-in-transit vans.

Irish cash trucks are also over 100 times more likely to face an attack than trucks in Belgium, which tops the ESTA league. Yet, less than 20 years ago, Belgium had by far the worst record, before a concerted campaign to switch to electronic or cashless transactions effectively got rid of the armed gangs' targets.

Banking chiefs here have blamed the dramatic increase in so-called 'tiger' kidnappings on the government's failure to reform our over-dependency on cash-based business. Some Euro3bn is transported weekly in Ireland, making this the country with the second highest circulation of cash in Europe.

Addressing the National Standards Authority of Ireland conference last year, the managing director of Securicor, Bernard Smith - whose truck was robbed in Carlow last week - said that industry investments to ward off such attacks in Ireland included biometric access control to trucks, featuring fingerprint ID and weight sensing. Smith also spoke of internal lockers and drop safes, as well as GPS tracking of trucks.

Atmosphere of fear While acknowledging the improvements made by security companies and the gardaí in the past year, Kevin McMahon of Siptu, which represents the van guards, said "an atmosphere of fear pervades the industry" in the wake of the recent surge in tiger kidnappings.

McMahon said that workers, who earn around Euro25,000 to Euro30,000 a year, are under strict instructions from the union to cooperate fully with armed criminal gangs if they feel their lives or those of their families are under threat.

"If it comes down to a choice between cash and a life, workers must follow the gang's instructions, " he said.

However, the apparent ease with which gangs could now infiltrate security companies to get information on cash movements and personal details of employees had increased workers' concerns, the Siptu official said. "Workers are never sure now whether a new 'colleague' will turn out to be the person who will kidnap his family, " he said.

All cash-in-transit (CIT) companies vet new and existing employees back over 10 years for any criminal background, but well-organised criminal gangs can circumvent this, said McMahon, who was highly critical of what he said were "knee-jerk" comments from justice minister, Michael McDowell who suggested that lapses by the security company had facilitated the robbery in Carlow.

"The security employees and the company did nothing wrong and acted strictly in accordance with procedures, " said McMahon.

Securicor's Bernard Smith also said last week that the safety and well-being of the families involved in such incidents was the company's main concern, and that the staff involved had followed procedures.

It is understood that in last week's case, the money was locked away in specially built-in safes and was not lying on the floor of the truck as suggested. McMahon welcomed Securicor's announcement that, in future, these built-in vaults will only be opened remotely from base when it is clear from the GPS tracking system that the cash truck is at the right place.

McMahon added that, while McDowell was quick to point the finger at the industry when armed attacks increased, he had failed to deliver on his own promises to increase security in the industry. When there was a similar surge in attacks in the early part of last year, McDowell promised that CIT trucks would be allowed use bus lanes and park on double-yellow lines.

But nothing had happened, said McMahon.

CIT vans stuck in traffic were a sitting target for armed gangs while the further a van had to park away from the bank or an ATM significantly increased the chance of an attack, said the Siptu official.

Currently, CIT van drivers can attract penalty points for using the bus lanes or parking on yellow lines, though it is understood this has never been enforced. "A nod and a wink is no good to us, " said McMahon. "We need concrete action, if only to show that the minister is serious about helping the industry tackle these gangs."

Geraldine Larkin, head of the Private Security Authority (PSA) set up by McDowell in 2004, said last week that its plans to license cash-in-transit companies were now "well advanced". Under the new system, CIT companies will not be able to operate without a license from the PSA. In order to get a license, the company, its directors and all staff will have to be vetted by gardaí. Critically, the companies will have to operate to new agreed standards of operation which include tough new security measures proposed by the gardaí.

However, the Irish Banking Federation (IBF) says the government, by ignoring repeated calls to encourage greater use of non-cash transactions, is directly responsible for exposing bank and retail workers and their families to the threat of kidnappings.

Cash dependency Tiger kidnappings involve the abduction of workers' family members in order to coerce workers who are instructed to retrieve cash from their workplace as a ransom for their loved ones.

IBF spokesman Felix O'Regan told the Sunday Tribune that cash dependency in the Irish economy was "a major contributory factor" in the attacks. "Notes and coins by their nature are manna from heaven for criminals. It stands to reason that where there is less cash in circulation, the risk should be far less in relation to these attacks on cash in transit, " he said.

O'Regan said that, after Greece, Ireland had the highest circulation of cash of all European states.

An astonishing Euro150bn in cash is transported annually on the streets of Ireland - comprising a total weight of 128,000 tonnes.

Security companies involved in the CIT industry are quick to note that consumer surveys show a high preference for cash use, and that 'plastic money' such as debit cards, can be prone to electronic fraud. But the IBF insists that a move towards the use of non-cash payment systems is an important step in reducing the incentive the crime gangs have in carrying out CIT robberies.

One of the greatest disincentives, O'Regan says, is the government's duty on financial cards.

Credit cards and charge cards per account are dutied to the value of Euro40 each while ATM cards and debit cards cost Euro10 or twice that amount for a card with both functions.

Over Euro5m has been taken by organised crime gangs from half-a-dozen financial institutions and retail outlets in the past 12 months when gangs held staff or their loves ones hostage as part of their raid.

In August, the family of a National Irish Bank official was held hostage by an armed gang in their home in Baldoyle, Dublin. The next morning, the bank worker was forced to drive to work at NIB in nearby Killester. He managed to convince his superiors to give him Euro270,000 which he then drove to a drop-off point in Clontarf, facilitating the release of the worker's mother and sisters. Gardaí were only alerted after the man's family went to a nearby house and raised the alarm upon their release.

In March 2005, the family of Securicor worker Paul Richardson was held hostage in their home in Raheny, Dublin. He was forced to go to work next morning. More than Euro2m was grabbed by the raiders at an agreed drop-off point.

Richardson's family was later released unharmed in a wooded area in Wicklow. Last Monday, the most recent attack occurred when Euro1.3m was stolen by an armed gang in Carlow town. A 67year-old Securicor worker and his wife were held hostage overnight as part of the raid.

String of attacks There is little doubt that the gangs behind the CIT raids are now bolder than ever before, at a time when there is greater tackling of specific Dublin gangs than at any time since the so-called garda 'Tango Squad' targeted Martin 'the General' Cahill. However, despite the obvious increase in tiger kidnappings, far fewer occur in the Republic than in Northern Ireland, where as many as three to four have occurred within the space of a month.

However, a growing number of young criminals is believed to have become involved with a small core of more established criminals, mostly Dublincity based, who are behind the planning of the attacks.

The increasing involvement of such lesserknown criminals is among the greatest challenges facing gardaí investigating the spiralling attacks, and are a product of the perception that tiger kidnappings are a lucrative criminal enterprise against targets that are numerous, vulnerable and relatively defenceless.