Masked men raid Tyrrellspass Post Office

Gardaí in Rochfortbridge and the Detective branch in Mullingar are investigating an alleged armed robbery at the newly opened Post Office in Tyrrellspass which took place on Friday morning last.Four men wearing balaclavas and dark hoody tops entered the premises, in which there were two customers, at 10.20am and unconfirmed reports suggest they were armed, wielding a firearm, knife and sledge hammer.Once inside, they smashed a window screening the Post Office attendant and took a quantity of cash, reported to be in the region of €5,000.The men then made their getaway in a black Mazda saloon car with the registration number 09 LD 334, and sped off in the direction of Kilbeggan along the old N6.The car has since been recovered by Gardaí, who are carrying out a Scenes of Crime investigation on the vehicle. They are appealing for any witnesses of the incident to come forward."We are putting out an appeal to anyone in the area at the time and may have seen the car acting suspiciously," said a Garda spokesperson."We are hoping to obtain a description of the men who may have been seen in the car either directly after or prior to when the incident took place."In a separate incident, Gardaí are also investigating an aggravated burglary which took place at a house on the old Longford Road, Mullingar at approximately 6.20am last Saturday morning.Two males entered the house and woke the occupant and demanded money, leaving the scene with a small quantity of cash.No injuries were sustained and Gardaí are carrying out a Garda Scenes of Crime examination on the house.Gardaí are now putting out an appeal in particular to all homeowners to take precautions in securing their houses at night time. They are asking people not to leave large quantities of cash or car keys lying around the house in easily accessible areas.They are also asking that any sitings of suspicious cars in the area be reported."A registration number is all we need, so regardless of how insignificant people might think it is, they should ring in the number anyway and we can check it out straight away," said a Garda spokesperson.They are also asking people not to leave items of value lying in view in their cars:"It's the season for cemetery masses, and we have had a lot of reports of vehicles being broken into while people attend Cemetery Sunday and other masses," he said."We are asking people not to leave items lying on the seats of their car or in view."