Police seek gang after Down kidnap

Police in the North are searching for a gang who kidnapped an 18-year-old man from his home in Co Down.

Police in the North are searching for a gang who kidnapped an 18-year-old man from his home in Co Down.

The teenager was taken by three armed and masked men after a robbery at his house in the Bexley area of Bangor .

He was taken to a house at Beechmount Parade in west Belfast during the early hours of this morning but managed to escape unhurt and raised the alarm just before 9.30am.

His 52-year-old father was also home at the time of the robbery and was threatened by the gunmen.

Detective Inspector Chris Wilson said: "This was a horrific ordeal for the father and son, and the wider family circle.

"It was a planned and organised crime involving a number of persons, and we are appealing to anyone with information to come forward."

The kidnappers used a grey Renault Laguna car registration number GJZ 9090 to transport their victim.

The plates were later changed to the false registration RJZ 6968.

Police said that a sum of money was passed to an occupant of the Laguna at a filling station in the Ravenhill Road area of south Belfast just after 7am today.

A cash-in-transit van was in the forecourt at the time.

The car was then seen in the College Square North area of Belfast before being abandoned at Ainsworth Avenue in the west of the city.

Mr Wilson said officers from the PSNI serious crime branch were particularly keen to speak to anyone who was in College Square or Ainsworth Avenue and noticed anyone acting suspiciously.

He said: "We need the community to come forward and speak to the investigation team so that those responsible for this can be brought to before the courts."

PA