A couple and their 16-month-old grandchild were taken hostage by armed robbers trying to extort money from them last night
Police said three armed and masked men entered their home in the Greater Belfast area last night and guarded them, before ordering the woman to withdraw cash from her Post Office employer.
The trio were released, unharmed, this morning, and no money was handed over.
A police spokeswoman said: "The hostages managed to free themselves and, although not physically harmed, were left traumatised by their terrifying ordeal."
The ambush began at 11pm last night when the gang targeted the house in the so-called tiger kidnapping. In the morning, one of the gang drove the woman to the Post Office on the Stewartstown Road, in West Belfast, in her black Peugeot car.
It was later found abandoned in the Corrib Avenue area of Lenadoon. Detectives have appealed for anybody with information to contact them.
