Armed robbers held up two committee members of Belfast Dog Show Society and got away with around £1,000 in cash on Saturday.

The gang struck at around 10.30 am at the exhibitors’ entrance to the Royal Ulster Agricultural Society Balmoral complex. The two committee members and a security guard were collecting car park money from exhibitors attending the All breed open show.

Two men armed with a gun and hammers approached officials and demanded the money, the thieves then making off with cash in a waiting stolen car which was later found abandoned shortly after the incident in the Shaw’s Bridge area just a few miles away from the showgrounds.

The officials, while deeply shocked, were otherwise uninjured.

The majority of the exhibitors who attended the show were unaware of the incident.