Police on both sides of the Border have begun a joint investigation into a robbery in which a Belfast security worker’s wife and son were taken hostage.
An armed gang forced their way into the victims' home in Lagmore, west Belfast, at around
10pm on Wednesday night.
They abducted a woman and her teenage son while her husband, who works for a cash in
transit company, was forced to attend work as usual on Thursday.
The gang then made off with what the PSNI said was a substantial sum of cash, believed to be in the region of £200,000, from his vehicle on Thursday afternoon.
Police were only alerted to the incident yesterday evening.
The woman and her son were later found across the Border by gardaí responding to a
report of a burnt-out van on the Castleblayney Road in Co Monaghan at around 8pm.
A PSNI spokesman said: "The family were not injured but are extremely traumatised
following their ordeal." Both the PSNI and the Garda are investigating, and have appealed for information.
Last night, a security cordon was thrown around the Mullyash area as a huge joint Garda and PSNI operation got under way.