Three men have been arrested after a man was beaten with baseball bats and his car stolen in Newry during the early hours of this morning (Tuesday).
Police received the report of an aggravated burglary at a house in Springfarm Heights area of the city shortly before 3am.
It was reported that three masked men entered the property through a window at around 2.45am and attacked a male occupant with baseball bats and an iron bar.
He was struck a number of times by the intruders before managing to escape from the house to shout for help.
The men then took keys to a red Vauxhall Crossland car from the house and left the scene in the vehicle.
A short time later information was received from an off duty police officer that a car matching the description of the stolen car had crashed on the southbound carriageway of the A1.
Officers assisted by a police dog attended and three men were arrested in the vicinity of the crashed car.
The men, aged 27, 30 and 33, remain in custody at this time after being arrested on suspicion of a number of offences including aggravated burglary and aggravated taking and driving away.
The occupant of the house sustained cuts and bruising as a result of the incident and was also left badly shaken.
Anyone with any information about this incident or who may be able to help with the investigation, is asked to call police at Ardmore on the non-emergency number 101, quoting reference number 130 29/11/22.
A report can be submitted online using the non-emergency reporting form via http://www.psni.police.uk/makeareport/ or you can contact Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111 or online at http://crimestoppers-uk.org/.
