Two men have been arrested by the PSNI in the North after an alleged aggravated burglary in north Donegal in which an elderly were couple were beaten up.
The couple were left badly bruised and traumatised in the incident at Doaghbeg on the Fanad peninsula on Sunday evening.
The terrified couple were able to tell investigating gardaí that the men involved in the attack had Dublin accents and were able to describe the getaway car.
The suspects, understood to be from Tallaght, were arrested after a cross-border alert was raised by gardaí.
They were detained as they bought diesel at a service station in Strabane, just 50 metres inside Northern Ireland.
The suspects were arrested on suspicion of shop-lifting at the service station as well as a number of other alleged offences.
Among the items allegedly stolen at the Strabane premises was a tin of Lynx deodorant spray.
“The elderly couple were innocent victims of a horrible crime. We understand that they had been in the area and were looking for somebody else but gave these people a good trimming instead,” said a source.
“But they were able to give good descriptions of the men and their car and thanks to that information being shared straight away by gardai with their PSNI colleagues, police officers in Strabane were able to act on it very quickly.”
In a statement, Gardaí confirmed they are investigating the aggravated burglary.
A spokesperson said: “The incident occurred on the 23rd Sept 2018 at approximately 8.15pm. Two men were arrested by the PSNI and taken to Omagh station.”
Gardaí will now attempt to have the men returned to the Republic in an effort to question them formally on the alleged attack.
