A town centre is on high alert as police begin their third day of searches for a man who held up a shop with a machete.
Nickel and Dime in Fraserburgh’s Saltoun Square was targeted on Monday morning by a teenager wearing a black hooded jumper and tracksuit bottoms who demanded the store’s assistant manager hand over all of his till’s money.
He was last seen by witnesses running in the direction of North Braeheads.
Other shopkeepers are now keeping vigilant in case their shops are targeted next.
Ian Dyga and Isobel Ritchie, two members of the town’s Shopwatch scheme, are hopeful that the attempted theft is not the beginning of a bigger problem.
Mr Dyga, whose family has owned a newsagents in Broad Street for 55 years, said he was confident the man responsible for the bungled robbery at Nickel and Dime would be swiftly brought to justice.
“I’m hoping the police catch him soon, and that this is just a one-off,” he said.
“If it was happening regularly, I’m sure the police would put more officers on the beat if there was more trouble – but I don’t think this will prove to be the case.”
Ms Ritchie, the chairwoman of Shopwatch, added that she was “shocked” by the incident.
She said: “I don’t recall something like this happening before, and I would like to think that this is a one-off.”
Shopwatch scheme, which businesses across the country are involved in, pools community knowledge on known shoplifters and troublemakers to preemptively ban would-be thieves.
In previous years, store owners in Fraserburgh have communicated with one another via walkie-talkies to warn about incidents of shoplifting. The group still meets monthly to discuss new thefts.
Last night a police spokesman said officers were still working to trace the culprit of Monday’s attempted robbery.
Anyone who was in the area, or saw anything suspicious, should call 101 or Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.