FIVE people are being questioned in connection with two armed robberies.
The first took place at a rent collection office in Shiney Row, near Sunderland, at about 12.30pm on Tuesday.
Two men threatened staff with a knife and demanded cash, but fled empty handed from the Sunderland Housing Group offices with a female accomplice, apparently on foot.
Less than two hours later, two men burst into Langley Park post office, in Front Street, Langley Park, near Durham. Again, staff and customers were threatened with knives, and the robbers escaped with cash.
Police recovered items of property used in the robbery from an area close to the University Hospital of North Durham.
On Tuesday, a joint operation by Durham and Northumbria police resulted in a couple, in their 20s, being arrested in Hetton-le-Hole. Within two hours, a further two men and a woman, also in their 20s, and from the Hetton area, were taken into custody.
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