Hole-in-the-ground gang dig tunnel to cash machine

Or maybe it had more to do with the tempting cash machine outside the Blockbuster video rental store.

Either way, a criminal gang went to astonishing lengths to break in to the shop, digging a 60ft-long, 5ft-high tunnel complete with its own electricity supply and ventilation.

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The gang tried to tunnel 20 metres underground to reach the cash machine

The secret passage, reinforced with scaffolding poles, ran from a railway embankment, under the site of a demolished building and towards the cash machine at the Fallowfield Retail Park in Manchester.

Sadly for the gang, however, their time-consuming work seems to have come to nothing after the tunnel was accidentally discovered by builders laying cables.

One of the workers said: "We were using a digger to get down to the old electric cables and as the JCB went through the concrete, it must have gone through the roof of the tunnel."

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Workmen laying electrical cables unearthed this getaway tunnel in Manchester

They climbed down and quickly began to suspect it was not just a legitimate access shaft.

The tunnel reached to within 20ft of the cash machine, and its entrance was concealed with soil and wood.

Lined with boards, it contained a wheelbarrow and a shovel and other tools were still inside.

In an echo of The Great Escape, in which PoWs tunnel their way out of a German camp, the workmen found bags of soil, but it is not clear how the bulk of the earth had been disposed of.

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Charles Bronson in The Great Escape - providing inspiration for the Hole-In-The-Ground gang?

The workman said: "I wasn't worried about it collapsing while I was down there - they had made a really good job of the supports and even the police were impressed with the workmanship."

Detectives are expected to investigate whether the gang planned to empty the cash machine in one go or steal smaller amounts at regular intervals in the hope of remaining undetected.

The tunnel is likely to be filled in with concrete.

Police believe this cash machine was the intended robbery target