Police investigating the kidnap-robbery at the main Belfast branch of Boots now believe a criminal gang rather than paramilitaries is responsible.
Two families in west Belfast were held hostage at the weekend as two employees at the city-centre store were ordered to steal the money. The amount stolen is now said to be £118,000 (€173,500). The cash was packed into sports bags and handed to members of the gang responsible near a branch of the Alliance and Leicester Building Society, a short distance from the store, on Saturday morning.
Police have appealed for anyone who saw anything at the junction of Fountain Street and Wellington Place on Saturday to come forward. No member of either family was hurt, but some are said to have been highly traumatised by the incident.
At one of the crime scenes in Ashton Park, a gang member is reported to have been disguised as a postal worker.
At the other hostage scene, police have asked for anyone with information about a car which was parked outside the house at Iveagh Street with the engine running just after 7am on Saturday. Children were also held hostage at one of the homes targeted by the gang.
The Boots robbery took place just 200m from the Northern Bank where £26.5 million (nearly €39 million) was stolen in January.
Det Chief Insp Ian Gilchrist said he was not looking at paramilitary involvement as a main line of inquiry at this point in the investigation. "There's in the region of possibly six to 10 persons involved in the crime," he said.