Raiders escape with money and cigarettes in Belfast robbery

Police in the North are appealing for information following an armed robbery at a shop on the Belmont Church Road in east Belfast.

At around 7am yesterday morning, two men - one armed with a suspected firearm - entered the shop and threatened two members of staff.

Money and cigarettes were handed over to the men in two recycling boxes and a white bag.

The first man was wearing a grey and black jacket with a horizontal white stripe, a red and white balaclava, blue jeans, trainers and black gloves.

While the second wore a black jacket with the hood up, a baseball cap, black tracksuit bottoms and white trainers with a scarf covering his face.

The staff members were not injured but were left shaken by the incident.

Police also received a report of two men in a red coloured BMW 5 series acting suspiciously in the vicinity of a newsagent shop on the Holywood Road twenty minutes before the robbery took place at the Belmont Church Road.