A man who claimed to be armed, escaped empty handed late this afternoon after an attempted hold-up at a lotto office in San Ġwann.

The man demanded money from the lotto receiver, but the receiver refused and banged down the shutter, whereupon the thief drove off on a motorcycle.

In a similar incident at 12.10, a lotto receiver also refused to hand over money in an attempted hold-up on a lotto booth on the Birkirkara bypass. The thief, who was wearing a helmet with raised visor, drove off on a motorcycle.