Two men have been jailed for using an excavator to rip an ATM from a bank wall in Kerry and stealing almost €250,000.
25-year-old Christopher Murney and 30-year-old Thomas Wilson, both from Co Down, were arrested shortly after the raid at the AIB at Castleisland last November.
They were part of a four-man gang and were sentenced to six years in prison.
They carried out a dummy run weeks before, then stole a €100,000 digger and ripped the ATM machine from the bank wall at 5am on 13 November.
The plan failed when they could not lift the ATM on to the back of a waiting truck because the excavator's bucket was too small - smaller than the one they had used in the dummy run. The gang fled empty handed.
They were still wearing their balaclavas when gardaí caught up with them half an hour later, 13km away.
They tried to ram the Garda car, crashed their van after a high-speed chase on narrow country roads, ran, resisted arrest and had to be subdued with pepper spray.
They caused €150,000 worth of damage to the bank.
Judge Carroll Moran said they were naive foot soldiers in financial difficulty but had no previous convictions and pleaded guilty.
He sentenced both to six years in prison.
Gardaí said the investigation into this raid and others which they believe was organised by the gang leader are continuing.
