Shotgun robbers in raid on bookies

MASKED thugs who held up a bookies with a sawn-off shotgun may have attempted to rob another shop just half an hour before.

Detectives investigating the raid at Betfred in Tyldesley, Wigan, believe it may be linked to an earlier incident in Farnworth in neighbouring Bolton.

Police were called to the bookmakers on Elliott Street at around 11.30am on Sunday to reports of an armed robbery.

Two men wearing balaclavas entered the shop and threatened staff and customers with a sawn-off shotgun. They then made off with ‘a quantity’ of cash, according to police.

The men were around 5ft 10ins. One of the men was wearing light grey jogging bottoms with green writing. The other man was wearing black clothing. Around 30 minutes before the raid, officers were called to an attempted robbery in Farnworth.

It is believed the same two men tried to enter a convenience store on Highfield Road before fleeing in a white Citroen Nemo. Police traced the vehicle to an address in Tyldesley, and subsequent searches resulted in the recovery of the sawn-off shotgun, a quantity of cash and drugs. Two men, one in his 30s and one in his 40s, have since been arrested on suspicion of assisting an offender. Anyone with information is asked to call police on 101, quoting incident number 1007 August 13.