A MAN and a woman have barricaded themselves in a room during a burglary by a gang of masked men in north Belfast.
Police said six masked men forced their way into the property on Hesketh Road at around 11.40pm on Saturday night.
The gang threatened the residents, a man and a woman both aged in their 20s, who managed to barricade themselves in an upstairs room and were left shaken but uninjured.
The burglars ransacked the house before fleeing empty-handed.
Police have appealed for anyone with information to contact officers.
It comes as police revisited the scene of a tiger-kidnapping style robbery which took place in north Belfast last weekend.
Four masked men, armed with a gun and a knife, forced their way into a house in the Lansdowne Road area at around 9.30pm on Sunday December 15.
The four attackers ransacked the property, demanded money and assaulted the male occupant.
Detective Inspector Michael McDonnell said: "The attackers then forced the male occupant into a white Ford Transit van and a female occupant into a red Mercedes SUV.
"The victims were then held and driven around for a period of time, before both vehicles were left parked up in the Ardoyne area.
"At this point, the male victim was able to free himself and raise the alarm.
"The female occupant of the other vehicle was subsequently located and freed. She was understandably terrified, but physically unharmed."
Police stopped cars in the area to speak with motorists and pedestrians and renewed house-to-house inquiries.
Det Insp McDonnell added: "While I would like to thank those people who have already come forward to provide information, I am still appealing for anyone who was driving in the Lansdowne Road, Taunton Avenue area between 9pm and 11.30pm who has recorded dashcam footage, to contact detectives urgently at Musgrave police station on 101, quoting reference number 2004 15/12/19.
"This was a despicable, vicious and prolonged attack on a local family.
"Any information, no matter how small or seemingly irrelevant, could potentially be of great significance and help us to identify the criminals responsible and put them before the courts."
