The driver kidnapped when the cigarette lorry he was driving was hijacked by a gang of men in south Armagh this morning has turned up.
Gardaí and PSNI officers are mounting a cross-border search for the gang, believed to be up to 12 men, who stopped the lorry along the main Belfast-to-Dublin Road at Jonesboro, just across the border from Dundalk.
It is understood the gang were dressed in workmen's hard hats and reflective jackets and manning a fake construction site.
When the lorry stopped at 7.50 a.m. at a checkpoint the robbers had set up, at least two men carrying handguns stormed the cabin and overpowered the driver. He was tied up and blindfolded before being driven off in another vehicle and questioned.
The cab of the truck, which was carrying around 3.5 million cigarettes, worth over €1.5 million, was found burned out a short time later. There was no trace of the trailer carrying the cigarettes.
The driver was said to be shaken but unharmed apart from cuts and bruises.
Police believe the same gang was responsible for trying to hijack another lorry in the same area.