A 10-YEAR-old girl allegedly had a knife held to her throat in an armed raid on her birthday.
According to police, four men charged their way into a home in Castlemilk in the early hours of yesterday morning before threatening the family inside.
During the alleged attack, a litter of eight three-week-old puppies – believed to be worth £1,000 each – were stolen.
The men are also said to have smashed up the house and vandalised a Mercedes car parked outside the house.
- READ MORE: High-value fraud reports down in Scotland
The family within, including a 29-year-old man, a 34-year-old woman and two children aged 17 and 10, were allegedly threatened with violence.
No-one was hurt in the incident but the family has reportedly been left traumatised by the level of violence and the theft of the young bulldog cross puppies.
It is understood the mother is extremely concerned for the welfare of the missing puppies, which were hand-fed, and have now not had a meal since Tuesday evening.
The family have lived in the area for 25 years, with the family grandparents living just three doors down.
On such a quiet street, there’s real shock from those living nearby.
Others in the area say they are surprised at the incident, with one neighbour told of her shock after learning of it.
She said: “It is a total shock to me that anyone could steal these wee dogs. “Why would anyone do this?
“It is very worrying that this can happen in our street.”
Meanwhile, Police Scotland confirmed a 19-year-old man has been arrested and charged in connection with the incident.
A report will be submitted to the Procurator Fiscal and the man is due appear at Glasgow Sheriff Court today.
Forensic officers are now examining the silver-coloured Volkswagen Polo which they believe was vehicle involved in a bid to catch the men responsible for the incident.
Police asked for the public to come forward with information about a hooded gang, believed to be aged from around 18 to 20, with slim build, wearing dark coloured tracksuits and carrying bladed weapons. Officers said the suspects arrived at the property in two cars.
A silver coloured VW Polo and a silver-coloured Audi. The Audi made off after the incident.
Detective Inspector Lynsey Watters said: “A family has been targeted within their home while sleeping and a young 10-year-old girl is deeply traumatised by what has happened.
“The motive for this attack is unknown, however, we do believe that it was targeted.
“I am appealing to members of the local community to contact us with any information they may have and to listen out for anything they might hear regarding this crime.
“Perhaps you saw the suspects, do you know anything about the cars? Any small piece of information could prove significant in our investigation so please do get in touch.”
Anyone with information is asked to contact Cathcart Police Station via 101, quoting incident number 0173 of Wednesday, August 21, 2019 or call Crimestoppers anonymously.
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 here