McDonald’s restaurant in Kempsey was robbed by four armed men in the early hours of Monday morning.
Police say four men armed with a rifle and a crow bar forced their way into the restaurant on Smith Street, at about 2.20am on Monday morning by smashing a window next to the children’s playground.
Once inside the men threatened the two employees on duty.
The robbers tied up one of the staff and threatened him with violence, forcing the other employee to open a safe.
The four men fled with a large amount of cash, stealing an employee’s Holden Commodore to make their escape.
The car was later found in Spooner’s Avenue and was taken for forensic examination.
The four men are described as Aboriginal/Torres Strait Islander appearance of thin to medium build.
They were wearing gloves, dark coloured long pants and dark coloured hoodies.
The men’s faces were covered with balaclavas.
Mid North Coast Local Area Command crime manager Detective Inspector Steve Clarke told Fairfax the robbery investigation was in its early stages but were police were doing what they could to track down the four subjects.
“Obviously it’s occurred around 2.30am which is opportunistic in the sense of timing as there wouldn’t be a lot of people around,” he said.
“A considerable amount of money has been stolen which would suggest it was the takings from the weekend.
“To some extent this suggests it has been planned.”
McDonald’s Kempsey store owner Sean Davis vowed this sort of incident would never be repeated.
“We are taking immediate steps to make sure the safe can’t be opened like this again,” Mr Davis said.
“We take a lot of care to make sure our employees have a safe workplace.
“Everybody deserves to feel safe at work.
“It is really disappointing for the Kempsey community to have to put up with this sort of thing.”
Specialist police attended the scene and detectives from Mid North Coast Local Area Command are conducting inquiries into the incident.
No persons were injured during the robbery.
If you have any information about this crime please phone Kempsey Police on 6561 6199 or Crime Stoppers on 1800
