THIS is the terrifying moment two criminals entered a south Dublin off-licence armed with a machete and threatened staff for just €150.

The shocking incident happened at a Centra store in Cabinteely at 6.40pm on Saturday.

In an odd twist, it has emerged that the knife-wielding thug and his accomplice left the shop with less money than had been in the till in coins.

The case is being investigated by gardai who are probing if the armed robbery was carried out by local criminals.

Store owner Bobby O’Reilly told Independent.ie that he was “outraged” at the sickening crime and he paid tribute to the male staff member who had to deal with the vicious attacker.

“This happened at 6.40pm on Saturday – two lads came into my shop. One was armed with a massive butcher’s knife – the other had a carrier bag,” Mr O’Reilly told Independent.ie.

“He was shouting at my employee ‘give me the f****ng till’ – put the till on the counter – don’t try anything – look at the size of this knife – look at it,” he explained.

“He was waving the knife around – it was a horrendous situation. My employee did the completely right thing – as soon as they left the shop, he hit the panic button.

“Gardai were here within two minutes and they are hopeful of solving this case – everyone is very stressed out to say the least.”

Independent.ie can reveal that the investigation has been helped by the fact that a “vital piece of evidence” was left behind by one of the raiders.

Last night, gardai would not disclose what this was but it is understood that their movements were caught on CCTV from nearby properties.

The thugs have been observed fleeing from the shop at Johnstown Road to nearby Johnstown Park.

No arrests have yet been made in the case which is being investigated by Cabinteely gardai.

“When you look at the footage, you can see that the raider with the knife is shaking – he was off his head,” Mr O’Reilly added.

“They left more in coins from the till than they took in notes – these are not professional criminals. He is obviously just an amateur – we really hope that he is caught.”

This is the second unsolved raid at the same Centra shop in the last three years after a gun-wielding thug entered the shop and stole a sum of money in April, 2016.

No one has ever been arrested for that crime.

Last month, the Herald revealed that Dublin is the county which has had the most burglaries over the past decade.

An analysis by PhoneWatch of burglaries on the CSO recorded crime database between January 2009 and December 2018, found that there had been almost 250,000 burglaries of commercial and residential premises in that time period.

Dublin accounted for 41pc of all burglaries in the country over the past decade, meaning it suffers from both the highest burglary volume (102,555) and highest burglary rate.

However, there has been a major decline in crime nationwide for more than two years after massive garda investigations into burglary gangs across the country.

Winter months have traditionally been the worst for burglary nationwide and the analysis reflects this, with November the most prolific month for the crime.

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