Police hunting suspect believed to be behind trio of armed robberies on Belfast off-licences
The PSNI believe the same man is behind a trio of off-licence armed robberies in Belfast.
Detectives are appealing for witnesses and information following the trio of incidents within a 24 hour period.
The first one happened just before 9pm on Wednesday, when a man entered an off-licence store in the Sunnyside Street area, in the south-east of the city.
He told the staff to hand over money from the till before threatening them with a knife.
He then made off with a sum of cash in a small brown paper bag, headed in the direction of Haywood Avenue.
He was wearing “a blue Adidas hoodie which had red upper arms featuring three white stripes and a red hood, pulled tight around his face; he also wore black tracksuit bottoms and black and white trainers, along with sunglasses and black gloves”.
Police received a report of a second armed robbery shortly before 1pm on Thursday, when a man entered an off-licence store in the Stranmillis Road area in the south of the city.
The man entered the store and threatened staff with a knife, demanding cash before making off in the direction of Stranmillis Park.
He was wearing "a red and blue hoodie with the hood tied across his face, along with navy jogging bottoms and a dark-coloured glove with light sections on his right hand”.
Police then received a report of a third armed robbery at around 8.20pm on Thursday, when a man entered an off-licence store in the Ormeau Road area, also on the south side.
Again, this report involved a man entering the store and threatening staff with a knife, demanding that they hand over the contents of the till.
The PSNI said: “We believe this is the same individual involved with the previous two robberies, who is described as being 5ft 10ins to 6ft tall, of medium build and approximately 40 years old.
"He was wearing light-grey tracksuit bottoms and a grey fleece, along with a navy beanie hat, a white T-shirt or bandanna used as a mask and black gloves. He also wore khaki-coloured trainers and carried a white plastic bag.
“The suspect made off in the direction of the city centre and we’re appealing to anyone who saw a man matching this description, or who may have CCTV or dash-cam footage from the area, to contact us on 101...
“A report can also be submitted online using the non-emergency reporting form via http://www.psni.police.uk/makeareport/ or you can contact Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111 or online at http://crimestoppers-uk.org/.”