Warning shots were fired during two separate robberies in the county in the past week - the first during a raid on Blackcastle Post Office in Navan on Thursday morning and the second a day later during an attempted robbery of a cash-in-transit van in Ratoath.

While the raiders managed to flee Blackcastle Post Office with several thousand euro in cash on Thursday morning, the raiders who targeted the cash-in-transit van as staff were about to service an ATM in Ratoath the next day left with only an empty cash box. It is understood that both incidents are not being linked.

Shortly before 11am on Thursday morning, two men pulled up outside Blackcastle Post Office in Navan on a motorbike. They left the 'bike running and ran into the post office, wearing helmets.

One of the men forced his way into the post office area using a crowbar to force the partition. The other man stayed in the shop area and produced a firearm.

One of the staff members queried if the handgun was real and the raider responded by pulling the trigger and firing a shot into the ceiling. While the four staff members and the customer who was on the premises at the time were shaken by the ordeal, they were otherwise uninjured.

Meanwhile, Ashbourne Gardai are investigating a raid at the rear of the Bank of Ireland premises in the Corballis Shopping Centre in Ratoath at around 1.45pm on Friday afternoon.

The incident occurred when a cash-in-transit van was about to service an ATM machine.

Three males, one armed with a firearm, another with a hammer, threatened the two security staff members. One shot was fired during the incident but nobody was injured. Gardai are examining a spent shell that was left at the scene.