Senior officers with the PSNI Organised Crime Branch have said they are committed to stamping out cash-in-transit robberies after a successful arrest operation.

Addressing reporters, spokesman Det Supt Esmond Adair said that numbers of the crimes had increased in 2010 after a "substantial decline" in recent years. But he pledged that the police would take decisive action to reverse the trend.

Det Supt Adair was speaking after it was confirmed that six men had been arrested in connection with a cash-in-transit robbery in the town of Lisburn.

During the incident, which happened at Belsize Road on July 22, a man threatened the delivery driver with a knife and forced him to hand over a cash box.

All six suspects were detained following a search at a property in the Poleglass area. Police say they have removed a car from the address for forensic analysis.

Det Supt Adair said: "After police and Organised Crime Task Force partners had worked hard to produce a substantial fall in the number of cash-in-transit robberies over recent years, there has been an increase so far this year.

"We are determined to tackle this trend robustly to protect the business community and the public."

Historically armed robbery was used to fund paramilitary activity in Northern Ireland and with the upsurge in dissident republican activity some observers believe that paramilitaries may again be using the crime to fund purchases of firearms and explosives for terrorist activities.