A security company tonight offered a reward of up to £100,000 for information about an armed robbery in Northern Ireland in which almost £500,000 was stolen.
The cash was taken after a gang of 10 armed and masked men held a Co Down family hostage for 12 hours.
Police hunting the gang revealed that they had got away with £490,000 packed into cash boxes.
The family ordeal began at 9.30 p.m. on Monday when the gang burst into the home of a Securicor guard at Saul outside Downpatrick.
The gang held his wife and his teenage son and daughter hostage until 4 a.m. until they were forced into a car and driven to the Notting Hill area of south Belfast where they were held in an empty house.
The Securicor guard was ordered to go to his depot as usual yesterday morning, collect money for distribution and drive it to a golf club outside east Belfast where members of the gang transferred the money in 20 cash boxes into a white van and made off.
In the meantime his family had managed to escape and raise the alarm.
Police said while uninjured they were extremely shocked by their ordeal.
Securicor have offered a reward for information leading to an arrest, charge and conviction and said they would offer a reward of 20 per cent of any cash recovered.
Detective Superintendent Alan Maines confirmed the robbers had got away with a total of £490,000.
"This was a well-calculated, well-planned and well-executed operation," he said.
"It has all the hallmarks of a sophisticated criminal gang. What this family has been through was simply unbelievable. They are physically unharmed but extremely traumatised," he added.
Mr Maines declined to go into detail about what happened while the family was being held.
But he said the gang had been there to intimidate adding "they did it well. They are nothing but thoughtless thugs."
PA