Help to end the safe gang menace!

A particular trait of these burglaries is that the firms’ safes are often targeted.

Fortified, bolted and cumbersome they may be, but this hasn’t deterred this brazen gang for wreaking havoc on numerous occasions.

One of those places to be hit was a breakdown firm in Ashton and the ne’er-do-wells were caught on CCTV lugging the 500kg strong box down the street.

On that occasion, their efforts counted for little as, after breaking it open, they found nothing but keys and paperwork inside. But the inconvenience - including the necessary changing of locks - was great.

And there was more trouble for the Lean Kitchen in Pemberton which had only just been recovering from a previous raid when the gang got in and, after 10 minutes of jemmying, uprooted the safe and stole it - but not before the louts had splattered eggs all over the premises. They even had the nerve to come back four hours later to steal loads of protein bars too.

This gang is causing all kinds of upset and damage. If anyone knows who they are, please tell the police.