A gang armed with hammers and axes have attempted to rob four jewellers in Glasgow's Argyll Arcade in broad daylight.
Police said that Rox, Mappin and Webb, Laing the jeweller and Lewis Grant were targeted by men, with a small quantity of jewellery being taken from Rox.
Officers believe a white VW Golf, which has been recovered in St James Road, Townhead, was used as a getaway car in the robbery.
In a statement, Police Scotland said: "Officers are carrying out enquiries and appealing for information following a robbery in Glasgow city centre today.
"Around 12.50pm today, police were called to a report of four jewellers - Rox, Mappin and Webb, Laing the Jeweller, Lewis Grant - being targeted by four males. They managed to enter only one of the jewellers - Rox - and quickly grabbed a small quantity of jewellery before running off.
"A security guard sustained a leg injury during the incident. The four male suspects were last seen running up a lane at the side of the arcade's Buchanan Street entrance.
"Officers are currently speaking to witnesses and gathering CCTV images to establish more details on the four men responsible.
"The four suspects are described as 5ft 8ins in height and of slim build. All were wearing dark clothing. It is believed that they made off in a white hatchback vehicle. A white Volkswagon Golf has been recovered in St James Road, Townhead, Glasgow and enquiries are also ongoing at that location to establish if it is the vehicle involved.
"Anyone with information is asked to contact Police Scotland on 101. Alternatively Criumestoppers can be contacted on 0800 555 111, where anonymity can be maintained."
Both uniformed and plain-clothed officers were at the scene at around 1.30pm today.
Eyewitnesses described seeing a gang - wearing balaclavas - running from Argyll Arcade in Buchanan Street with weapons and carrying holdalls.
Shutters were pulled down on the jewellery district, but officers could be seen taken statements from shaken customers and members of staff.
A lane next to the arcade - opposite House of Frasers - was sealed off with several police officers standing guard.
Video by David McCourt
Fire crews were also in attendance amid reports smoke could be seen coming from the arcade.
Video footage surfaced on social media of four masked people emerging from the famous mall onto Buchanan Street, apparently carrying sledgehammers.
Another video suggested that some form of smoke canister had been let off inside the arcade.
David McCourt, who took the video above, said: "Myself and two colleagues were walking up Buchanan Street when we were alerted by what sounded like a fire alarm coming from the Argyll Arcade.
"As we passed the opening to the arcade, we noticed many terrified looking shoppers fleeing from the scene.
"As we looked in, we noticed the arcade's smoke clouds had been activated with four to five figures dressed in black emerging.
"They were wearing balaclavas and began to charge at the security brandishing baseball bats and hatchets, with some of them attempting to break the reinforced glass as they began their escape.
"Unable to successfully make away with any merchandise, the group of thieves then fled, with one of them shouting "I'll f***ing kill you all", at which point I stopped filming.
"They were last seen disappearing down the adjoining alleyway on foot, witnessed by some 30 to 40 onlookers."
One eyewitness Ann-Marie tweeted: "Got screamed at off four balaclavad men at Argyll Arcade they would shoot me if I didn't move."
Calum Macaulay also tweeted, "Was about to enter Fraser's on Buchanan St earlier and alarms going off and blokes in balaclavas running from jewellery heist."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article