Two men dressed as builders escaped with a substantial sum of cash after an armed raid on a Co Longford bank yesterday morning.
The men, carrying a handgun and a shotgun, walked into the Ulster Bank branch on Main Street, Edgeworthstown, just before 11.30am and demanded cash. Nobody was injured in the raid and the men made off in a Renault van, which they abandoned a few hundred yards away on the town's Ballymahon Road.
"They then got into another vehicle, possibly a 2005 Audi, and fled the town," said a Garda spokesman.
"We are appealing to anyone who may have seen either the Renault or the Audi to contact us."
No figure has yet been released on the amount of cash they got away with in the raid.
The bank was closed for the remainder of the day as gardaí carried out forensic tests at the crime scene.
They are also studying CCTV footage from other premises around the town in an effort to identify the men.
A number of customers were in the bank when the raiders struck.
This is the latest in a series of armed raids on banks and post offices in the midlands.