NI couple unhurt after kidnap

A couple are recovering from a night-long tiger kidnap ordeal.

A couple are recovering from a night-long tiger kidnap ordeal.

Officers have only now released details of the kidnap and attempted robbery which began last night in Crossgar, Co Down, and ended this morning in Belfast.

Between 7.30pm and 8.30pm last night a number of armed and masked men entered a house on the Drumaghlis Road in Crossgar.

The couple who lived there were held in their home for about one hour before the husband was taken away in his own car - a black Mini One, registration number RE08 RYO.

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The woman was kept apart from her husband and taken in a separate vehicle.

Both the man and woman were then held captive overnight.

In the early hours of this morning the man was driven in his car by members of the gang to the Mayfield area of Glengormley off the Hightown Road, arriving around 4.20am.

The man was told to drive his car to his place of work - a cash delivery company - and take an amount of money to Boucher Place in Belfast.

At 7.30am, the man went to Boucher Place where he was met by another member of the gang driving a silver Honda Civic car.

But before any money was handed over, the Honda Civic drove off.

At 9am the man’s wife freed herself from a house under renovation at Myrtlefield Park in south Belfast and raised the alarm.

Police said the couple, although traumatised by the incident, were not physically injured.

No money was ever handed over.

Detectives want to hear from anyone who saw anything suspicious in the areas involved in the kidnap.

PA