Abducted tourists, a stolen airport bus and 90 minutes of mayhem

The incident led to a massive cross-Border chase. Cousins John McDonagh (26) and Stephen McDonagh (25), of Navan, Co Meath, were arrested.

Both remained in custody in Carrickmacross garda station in Co Monaghan last night where they were being questioned about the unauthorised taking of a minibus and suspected false imprisonment of three people.

They were arrested after a manhunt that lasted for almost two hours in which a number of Garda and PSNI cars were rammed.

The incident began when the three innocent passengers were sitting in a shuttle bus owned by the Carlton Hotel parked in front of Terminal 2 at 1am.

The tourists had arrived on a transatlantic flight late on Tuesday and had been due to take a connecting flight to a European destination, but missed this as a result of a delay.

Aer Lingus had planned to put them up in the Carlton Hotel, near Dublin Airport.

The suspects are alleged to have got into the front of the bus as it waited with three people aboard.

The Colombian woman and a couple who are understood to be English were then driven off by the men, who are known to gardaí.

The bus was involved in a minor collision with a taxi as it left the airport before fleeing the scene.

The vehicle was then driven for more than 27km from the airport to a service station in Julianstown, Co Meath, near the City North Hotel off the M1 and the three people were told to get out of the vehicle.

They later told gardaí that although they thought the driving on board was "erratic" they were not led to believe they were in any danger.

They were not threatened or robbed during the incident and not "dealt with aggressively in any way", according to a senior source.

A female tourist has already given gardaí a detailed statement about what happened and officers are hoping to obtain more statements.

When they were let off near the City North Hotel they thought they had arrived at their designated hotel and asked to check in, only to be told they had no booking.

The three then decided to get a taxi back to the airport and contact Aer Lingus.

After eventually being brought to the right hotel, they were able to spend the night there and made their flight later yesterday.

As the tourists made their way back to the airport unharmed, gardaí and the PSNI were faced with 90 minutes of mayhem.

The two men continued north in the bus and were located by gardaí near Drogheda, Co Louth, where a new Garda patrol car was allegedly rammed off the motorway.

The bus then continued on the M1 where it drove north of Dundalk, before it then crossed the Border into Northern Ireland.

In a statement, the PSNI confirmed it "received a report from our colleagues in An Garda Síochána that a stolen transit van had been tracked crossing the Border".

"Officers observed the vehicle in Crossmaglen Square, and upon police entering the car park the transit van collided with the police vehicle causing damage to the front of the car," a spokesperson said.

"The transit van then made off from the area and recrossed the Border."

No PSNI officers were injured during the incident.

The minibus then diverted back into Co Monaghan where officers were waiting.

A Garda operation, involving the air support and the armed regional response unit, then got under way, involving at least 12 patrol cars and specialist units.

The bus crashed after crossing south of the Border.

But the two men escaped on foot and stole a small parked car from a farm while the smashed bus was left blocking the roadway.

The stolen car was intercepted near Castleblayney in Co Monaghan a short time later.

Before the suspects were arrested, the stolen car had attempted to ram a Garda vehicle.

No one was injured and the incident ended with the arrest of the suspects at around 2.30am.

The suspects are likely to face multiple charges.

John and Stephen McDonagh are based in Navan but also have links to Swords, Ballymun, Cavan and Ballymena in the North.