Thousands of cigarettes taken in raid

RAIDERS smashed their way into a Royton newsagents and scooped up 2,000 packets of cigarettes in a bedsheet.

The burglary is the second time this year that Newsplus, in Rochdale Road, has been targeted, again costing the family business £10,000 in cigarettes and £5,000 in damage.

It was still recovering from a raid in February when the same amount was stolen after thieves ripped down a shutter and removed a window to get into the back of the shop.

This time an attempt to break in through the rear failed and the two men, wearing balaclavas, gloves and carrying crowbars, forced open a shutter and the front door.

They struck just after midnight yesterday, with CCTV showing two white males in their late teens or early twenties.

Owner Azad Mohammed (30) was alerted within minutes by an alarm company telling him the alarm had been triggered.

He said: “The doors and the security shutters were ripped open and they had taken all the cigarettes. They did not seem bothered about people driving past, they just casually ripped the shutter up, forced the door and filled a sewn-up bedsheet with cigarettes.

“They were like Father Christmas dragging it out of the shop like a sack. They could barely get it through the door.

“I work seven days a week for 14 hours a day. I’m angry and upset.

But he said defiantly: “I was able to open up yesterday morning. I won’t let people like that get the better of me. If I closed it would be like letting them win. Family and friends have helped and I don’t want to let my customers down.”

Police are appealing for any witnesses or anyone with information to contact them on 0161 8725050.