Five men, two of them believed to be from Co Dublin, and two women were in police custody in Derry last night after a five-hour house siege which followed an armed robbery yesterday afternoon.
The events started when four masked men armed with a firearm, a baseball bat and a knife robbed the Pennyburn Credit Union office in the city shortly before 1 p.m.
Police officers responding to the robbery used two police vehicles to block the gang's getaway route near Ballyarnett roundabout, about a mile from the scene of the robbery. However the gang, driving a silver Renault Scenic with Northern Ireland number plates, crashed their way through the vehicle checkpoint.
Police officers at the scene fired twice, discharging a total of four bullets. Their actions were yesterday investigated by officials from the Police Ombudsman's office.
One of the gang ran across fields after the police vehicles had been rammed twice and he was caught by chasing officers who also recovered a sum of money. The getaway car driven by the other gang members crashed in the Co Donegal Border village of Muff. There they hijacked a passing car and ordered the motorist to drive them at gunpoint back into Derry.
Detectives investigating the incidents believe the driver was ordered to drop the gang members close to a bed and breakfast house in Duncreggan Road, about one mile from the scene of the robbery. Minutes after they arrived at the house, police officers surrounded the building and a five-hour stand-off began, ending just before 6.30 p.m.
With heavily armed and armoured police officers around the house, four men and two women were arrested. Two of the men were arrested in the roof space of the house, where the police also found a firearm and a sum of money.
During the stand-off, two specially trained PSNI hostage-negotiation officers, backed by armed police marksmen, approached the bed and breakfast. However, no direct negotiations took place with those inside the house prior to their arrest.
Chief Supt Peter Sheridan, who is in charge of police investigations into both the house siege and the credit union robbery, said he and the other officers involved in both incidents were delighted that they had ended without casualties.
"Four people, two men and two women, presented themselves at the front door of the house after almost five hours. We also helped to remove a very young girl from the house. When my officers then searched the premises, they found two more men hiding in the attic, where they also found the firearm and a sum of money.
"Following the armed robbery, police officers intercepted a vehicle fleeing from the scene. It rammed the police vehicle on a number of occasions and police officers fired shots. One individual ran from the vehicle and he was captured by officers in a field after a chase. We also recovered some money.
"The vehicle then made its way across the Border, where I understand it crashed. A further vehicle was then hijacked and a number of people were then taken back into the city.
"We then had a siege outside the house in Duncreggan Road which ended with six people arrested there, a firearm recovered as well as a quantity of cash."