Two families held hostage in heist

A GANG held two employees’ families hostage to rob Boots the chemist in Belfast City Centre of £118,000 (€172,500), police revealed yesterday.

The raid happened on Saturday morning and detectives played down initial suspicions that the IRA might have been involved.

It took place just yards from the multi-million pounds Northern Bank heist in December, which has been blamed on the Provisionals, and at first fuelled fears that the organisation had struck again.