THREE men armed with tools including an angle grinder stole cigarettes and alcohol during a raid Sainsbury’s in Culcheth.

Police were called to reports of the break-in at 1.30am on Wednesday at the shop on Common Lane.

The three men are all described as white, around 5ft 11ins and aged in their 20s.

They were wearing black balaclavas covering their faces and had hoods over their heads.

One of the culprits was wearing grey tracksuit bottoms, a green jacket with a blue hood, a grey Nike jumper and black trainers with white stripes down them.

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Another had a black North Face coat on as well as black Umbro tracksuit bottoms, black trainers and grey woolly gloves.

The third man was wearing a black hooded jumper with red writing on it, dark coloured bottoms and black trainers.

Detective sergeant Tom Hall said: “We are determined to catch the offenders and bring them to justice and are appealing for help from the public with our ongoing investigation.

“If you were in the area around the time of the incident and witnessed anything suspicious please get in touch.

“The same goes for anyone who recognises the descriptions of the offenders and believes that they may know who they are or have dashcam footage of them.”

The show was temporarily closed but it reopened a short time later.

A Sainsbury’s spokesman said: “We can confirm our Culcheth store has reopened following an incident in the early hours of this morning.

"The store is temporarily unable to offer tobacco or lottery products while we address some damage to the kiosk area.

"We’re working to reopen it as soon as possible and are sorry for any inconvenience this may cause.”

Anyone with information about the incident should call Cheshire Police on 101, quoting IML 260011 or contact Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800555 111.