There were 276 armed robberies on shops in the Netherlands last year, down 34 on 2015, the Dutch retail association Detailhandel Nederland said on Monday.

The number of armed robberies on retail premises has gone down more than 70% over the past seven years and last year’s figure is a record low, the organisation said.

Police have made combating armed robberies a priority in recent years. ‘Nevertheless, there is still a robbery on a shop on an almost daily basis,’ said Detailhandel spokesman Bert van Steeg.

‘It really does not make sense because the robbers are unlikely to get away with much and the prison sentence is long,’ he said.

While the number of armed robberies has dropped, organised gangs are carrying out more ram raids and there has been a rise in attempts to blow up cash point machines, Van Steeg said.