Number plates on a car that was used during a raid on a rural convenience store had been stolen earlier the same day, police have revealed.
Masked bandits battered down the door of the Nisa store in Dunning in the early hours of Wednesday.
Shop owner Zubair Aslam, who lives above the shop, raced into the street brandishing a golf club and dressed only in his pyjama bottoms but was too late to prevent them making off with thousands of pounds worth of cigarettes and alcohol.
Now police have revealed the dark-coloured Ford Kuga which the five-strong gang used to make their getaway had been decked out with plates stolen from Scotlandwell.
The information emerged as officers repeated their appeal for information on the raid.
A spokesman for Police Scotland said: “About 3am, Wednesday July 17 the Nisa, Bridge of Earn Road, Dunning was broken into by five males driving a black Ford Kuga which was bearing false plates.
“The registration plates had been stolen a short time earlier from a vehicle in Scotlandwell.”
