North firms warned after kidnap-robberies
Businesses in the North were today being given advice on guarding themselves against tiger kidnappings after two such incidents in 24 hours.
Belfast Chamber of Commerce has been in discussions with the Police Service of Northern Ireland and will be issuing members with guidance.
The talks were held after the wife and three children of an employee at the central Belfast Next store were held captive by an armed gang on Sunday night while he was ordered to go to work yesterday and collect cash from the safe.
The man was said to have handed over “less than £50,000 (€51,213) ” to secure the safe release of his family.
Last night another such kidnapping was carried out, but the gang failed to get any cash when one of the victims refused to co-operate.
Two masked men entered a house in the Shankill Road area of Belfast occupied by two women. A 19-year-old was forced into the boot of a car and driven off.
The assailants called their victim’s friend at work at Grand Parade in east Belfast and ordered her to take all the money from the premises and leave it in a bin outside.
The woman left in the house was then contacted and told to collect the money and leave it at a designated place – she refused and the teenager was later left in the Peter’s Hill area between Belfast city centre and the Shankill Road.
There have been five such tiger kidnappings in recent months in Northern Ireland and Belfast Chamber of Commerce president John Moore said there was a surge in such robberies at key trading periods such as Christmas.
Mr Moore said: “We had been working closely with the police during yesterday afternoon and last evening seeking advice from them.
“Hopefully today we will be sending out some key protection points for members to review in terms of taking normal procedures, on closing shops, cash handling, being vigilant – back to the old days, looking out for suspicious people hanging about, unusual cars parked for long periods of time.”
Assembly member Ian Paisley Jnr, a member of the Northern Ireland Policing Board, said employers should also urge their employees not to talk out of turn.
He said: “Retailers and people who manage cash need to put in protection and preventative measures to stop their businesses being targeted.
“For example they need to make sure their staff do keep quiet about what is held in relation to their cash.”
