Robbery 'was well planned'

The woman was told to empty the safe at her place of work

The police have described a robbery and the abduction of a couple and their neighbour as a well planned operation.

Police are hunting for between six and 10 robbers who abducted the three people after forcing their way into a house in Castlederg, County Tyrone, on Sunday.

They put hoods on the husband and wife and a neighbour who was in the house at the time.

They then drove them away in a van to an unknown location, thought to be in County Donegal.

On Monday, the woman was forced to drive to her place of work, an Iceland supermarket at Railway Street, Strabane.

This was a very horrifying ordeal for these people to go through - I am 100% sure the attackers in this incident fully knew the details of the victim Detective Inspector John Gilmore

She was ordered to empty the safe and deliver it to a church in Lifford.

The two men were later released and were found, walking barefoot, through the village of Clady.

Detective Inspector John Gilmore said the robbery was a well-planned and organised operation.

"This was a very horrifying ordeal for these people to go through," he told BBC Radio Ulster on Tuesday.

"I am 100% sure the attackers in this incident fully knew the details of the victim."

'Same people'

The detective said it was too early to say if there had been paramilitary involvement in the robbery or where the three victims had been held.

"They were all threatened - she (the man's wife) was threatened if she did not carry out what was requested of her, then harm would be carried out on other people who were being held."

Ulster Unionist assembly member Derek Hussey said he believed republican paramilitaries were behind a series of incidents in the Strabane area, including the latest robbery.

"The last one was linked to republicans and the modus operandi looks extremely similar to me and that it would be the same people," he said.

However, Sinn Fein's Charlie McHugh said he did not believe republicans were involved.

"Obviously, I have no information other than what I have been hearing this afternoon," he said.

"I would be totally shocked and surprised if republicans had any involvement in this.

"The republican movement that I am a part of at the moment would have no truck with this type of hostage-taking and robbery."

The gang is believed to have escaped with several thousand pounds.