Police armed with machine guns to protect security vans this Christmas

The squad will escort 'cash in transit vehicles' to banks, ATMs and depots over the festive season to deter possible attacks as part of a wider special police operation nicknamed Vanguard.

The Greater Manchester force drafted in the extra firearms officers following an increase in the level of violence used against security personnel in the area.

The officers will carry MP5s, a 9mm German submachine gun which can fire 650 rounds per minute.

Det Chief Insp Patrick McKelvey from Greater Manchester Police warned: "Armed officers carrying MP5 machine guns will be waiting for any raiders thinking about targeting cash deliveries."

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The squad was unveiled at Bolton police HQ just days after a vicious team of five armed robbers were jailed for a total of 43 years after being caught red handed hijacking a security vehicle in Stockport.

The raiders armed with a gun and sledgehammer squirted petrol over a security guard and threatened to set him on fire as he and a colleague filled a cash machine outside a newsagents store in Edgeley.

The gang escaped with £87,000 but were intercepted moments later by police who had been waiting to ambush them.

The uanarmed officers blocked the robbers getaway cars as it tried to speed out of an alleyway.

The robbers tried to ram the panda cars out of the way but police were able to pull the gang out of the vehicle.

One officer was injured when the robber's car ran over his leg during the stuggle.

Police seized a loaded 9mm handgun, a sledgehammer and bottle of petrol.

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Det Chief Insp Patrick McKelvey from Greater Manchester Police said: "We serve the second most heavily commercialised area in the UK and therefore are more likely to be targeted by armed robbers.

"An increase in the level of violence used against security personnel has strengthened our resolve to protect them in carrying out their duties and to bring these violent criminals to justice.

"Through Vanguard, we are hitting these career criminals hard on many fronts that include on the streets, in the courts and in their communities.

"Last week Operation Boulder saw five violent armed robbers sentenced to a total of 43 years in prison for firearm and robbery offences.

"Security guards in this robbery had been doused in petrol and threatened.

"This is the level of disregard for human life that armed robbers show - and why we are determined to stop them, now.

"Armed officers carrying MP5 machine guns will be waiting for any raiders thinking about targeting cash deliveries."

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Senior officers are also seizing the assets of known robbers so they cannot be used to fund further criminal activities, and lobbying the courts for the reclassification of these crimes, with harsher sentences for criminals who use extreme violence.

One of the latest developments in the fight against armed robbers is the use of SmartWater, a coded forensic marking fluid that can be sprayed automatically onto criminals or cash so that they can be later linked to that particular crime.