Woman held hostage in £1m Belfast van heist
She was seized from her home in the city and held for up to eight hours.
The terrified victim was released unhurt this morning only after her partner, who works for the Brinks security firm, took the money to a filling station where the robbers were waiting.
Although police have not ruled out paramilitary involvement, there is nothing to suggest any link to the £26.5 million Northern Bank heist or the Makro cash-and-carry raid, both blamed on the IRA in Belfast.
Underworld intelligence networks were being examined tonight for clues to the thieves’ identity.
One security source said: “It could be 12 hours or more before anything comes to the surface.
“There are a number of criminal gangs that do this sort of thing.”
Men arrived overnight at the couple’s home in Belvoir, on Belfast’s south-eastern outskirts.
The security guard was given instructions to rendezvous at Creighton’s Garage on the Upper Lisburn Road, three miles from his house.
“He was to hand over a large sum of cash to an unknown party,” a police spokeswoman said.
“Once this handover had taken place, the woman was released unharmed in the Annadale area of south Belfast.”
Detectives from PSNI Assistant Chief Constable Sam Kinkaid’s Crime Operations Department have taken charge of the investigation.
The filling station where the handover took place has been sealed off.
A derelict house, believed to be where the woman was held, was also searched.
Meanwhile, a shot was fired as armed men raided a cash-in-transit van outside a bookmakers near Belfast.
A security guard was attacked by two masked men as he collected money from the business on the Doagh Road, Newtownabbey, yesterday.
He was knocked to the ground and the cash box containing a large sum of money stolen, police said.
The robbers fired a shot into the air before escaping in a green saloon car, leaving the guard and his driver badly traumatised.
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