Witnesses are being sought after an armed robbery in Penicuik’s Town Centre on Friday evening.

At around 8.10pm on Friday 6 October, a man entered Newsboyz newsagents on The Square wielding what is described as a Samurai-type sword and demanding money.

The man, said to be around twenty years old and about 5ft 7in. engaged with the eighty year old shopkeeper resulting in the theft of three figure sum of cash whilst leaving the shopkeeper with a minor injury to his head.

Detective Inspector Paul Batten said:

This is an extremely unusual offence, given the style of weapon used and thankfully the shopkeeper was not seriously injured.

We are treating this robbery with the utmost seriousness and I would ask anyone who remembers seeing any suspicious activity around the store on Friday evening to contact police immediately.

Similarly, anyone who can help us identify and trace the male responsible is also urged to get in touch.

Those with information can contact Dalkeith CID via 101 and quote incident number 3936 of the 6th October. Alternatively, an anonymous report can be made through the charity Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.

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