Thieves dig 50ft tunnel to cash machine

Police now believe that thieves who stole a cash machine by digging a 50ft tunnel, got away with £88,000.

An earlier estimate put the figure far lower, but a source says that number has been "revised up."

A police source has told ITV News that the cash machine stolen by tunneling thieves contained £60,000.

The gang dug a 50ft tunnel from wasteland to reach the Tesco Express store containing the machine.

The theft, in Eccles, happened last Friday.

A satellite image shows the wasteland, surrounding a Tesco Express store, from where thieves dug a 50ft tunnel to steal a cash machine.

It was stolen sometime between midnight and 6am on Friday.

A cash machine, stolen by thieves who dug a tunnel beneath it, is "out of service".

The facade of the machine is all that remains at a Tesco Express in Eccles.

The gang managed to dig a 50ft tunnel to commit the crime. Police say a 'significant amount' of money was stolen.

The theft happened between midnight and 6am on Friday.

Thieves have managed to dig a 50ft tunnel to steal a cash machine at a Tesco in Salford. Police say a 'significant amount' of money was stolen.

The theft happened between midnight and 6am on Friday, March 14 on Liverpool Road in Eccles.

The thieves tunnelled under nearby wasteland overnight and into the shop, where they stole cash boxes containing a substantial sum of money before disappearing back into the tunnel and escaping with the money.

Officers believe the thieves may have spent a number of months digging the tunnel, because of the amount of planning that was involved and complex nature of the tunnel structure.

DS Mark Toker from Salford Division said: "These people had obviously spent a long time plotting this crime and I doubt they would have been able to keep their plans secret for all that time, without telling others about their elaborate scheme.

"I would ask anyone with any information about the robbery to call us as soon as possible"