Three children held captive in home

Three children were held captive at gunpoint while their father was forced to take money from his workplace shop today.

The children, one aged 15 and the other two aged eight, were put in their bedroom after two assailants, one carrying a handgun, entered their house in Lisburn, Co Down last night.

The father and mother were held in another part of the house and at 6.45am today the father was forced to go to his work at Next in Belfast and hand over cash, totalling "less than £50,000 (€51,185)", to the gang.

Next holds one of the best-known post-Christmas sales of household goods and clothes, with many customers filing through its doors at this time of year.

A police spokesman said the family had been freed.

"While they were not physically harmed, they were very upset by their ordeal," he said.

Police are appealing for information on a car which was used in the robbery. The silver Mitsubishi Charisma was taken from the family's home.

It bears the registration number NCZ 7782. Anyone who saw suspicious activity in the Lagmore area of Lisburn last night at 9pm, or saw the Mitsubishi Charisma in the area of Donegall Place and Royal Avenue after 7am today, is asked to contact detectives.

Police are advising all businesses to ensure they have proper safety measures in place for their staff and premises.

Any key personnel who notice suspicious activity at or near a business or near their home are asked to call police immediately.

A handgun was used during last night's incident.

Attacks like this one - known as tiger kidnappings - have been regularly employed in Northern Ireland to target families of managers at banks and other offices with access to cash.

The most famous was the £26.5m (€27.1m) Northern Bank robbery in Belfast city centre in December 2004, blamed on the IRA, in which two bank workers' families were held captive.

There is no suggestion of a link with today's incident.