A Co Tyrone family were held hostage overnight by a gang plotting an armed robbery on a security van, it was disclosed today.
They were held for more than 12 hours by the gang before it failed in a bid to rob the van on the Annagher Road in Coalisland yesterday afternoon.
The gang members who forced their way into their home the previous night.
The family were kept hostage until just before 12.30pm yesterday when the armed and masked gang approached the cash van but failed to gain access.
The gang made off empty-handed in the family’s car.
Detectives said they were anxious to speak to anyone who saw the attempted robbery or noticed the would-be robbers or any vehicles either beforehand or making off from the scene.
Meanwhile in Belfast police were appealing for witnesses to an attempt to hijack a woman’s car at Laganbank Road last night.
The lone woman was waiting at the junction of the Albert Bridge Road at about 9pm when two men in their late teens stepped out in front of her and demanded she hand over the car.
One of the attackers managed to open the driver’s door, but the woman was able to drive off during a break in traffic, police said.