Thieves Dig Tunnel to Cash Machine in Manchester

A persistent group of thieves went to extreme lengths to get their hands on extra cash after digging a 100ft tunnel under a building to reach a Cash Machine.

The labour-intensive robbery saw the gang spend six months a passageway under a Blockbuster Video in Fallowfield, Manchester to get up underneath the cash machine.

Amazingly, the group managed to get into the cash machine after completing the tunnel - which they has started four years ago in a previous botched raid. The thieves originally dug around 60ft of tunnel in August 2007, but their secret raid was discovered by builders laying cables.

Not to be deterred, the criminals returned to the passageway and finally got to the cash - but after all their toil only away with around £6,000.

The thieves dug the tunnel from a railway embarkment at the rear of the shop, which then went under a car park and beneath the foundations of the store. The tunnel was directly dug underneath the cash machine, where the offenders then used machinery to cut through more than 15inches of concrete to steal money from the ATM.

Detective Sergeant Ian Shore, from Long Sight CID, said: "In all my years of service, I have never seed anything quite as elaborate as this".