Two messengers carrying $70,000 to a bank could not believe they were the victims of Iceland's first reported armed robbery until the man who accosted them fired a warning blast from his shotgun.

The police said the messengers at first ignored the gunman's demands for the cash because major robberies have been unknown here. But after the man shot at a nearby parked car, they turned over the receipts from Friday's business at a store.

The police said it was the first armed robbery to be reported in this country's history.