Robbers have forced staff in a Belfast city centre chemist to hand over a six-figure sum of money, it emerged last night.
The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) said the families of two employees of the Boots store in Donegall Place had been held hostage in their homes in south and west Belfast overnight.
They were forced to go to work and to hand over the money in sports bags to the thieves outside the Alliance and Leicester Building society in Wellington Place.
The PSNI said the staff and their families had not been physically harmed but were severely traumatised by the experience. "It is too early to say if there was paramilitary involvement," said a spokeswoman.
Detectives tonight appealed for anyone who saw the handover of money, which took place between 9.10am and 9.15am, to come forward. Signs outside the Boots shop said it was closed due to "unforeseen circumstances".
There was also a security presence inside the store for much of the day. Last December, two families were held hostage as part of the £26.5 million sterling (€37.85 million) Northern Bank robbery in Belfast. The PSNI and the Gardai have accused the IRA of being responsible for that raid.