Stolen passports 'worth £2.5m'

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Hijackers made off with boxes of blank passports after hijacking the van when the driver stopped off to get a newspaper at a shop in Oldham, Greater Manchester, on Monday morning.

One of the raiders jumped in while the driver was away from the vehicle and a second delivery man sitting in the van was then attacked before the offender sped off with the vehicle.

"The actual value of the passports themselves is around £2.5 million," said Detective Chief Inspector Bill McGreavy.

He said the passports and stolen visas were contained in 24 brown cardboard boxes measuring around 5in (13cm) by 4in (10cm).

Mr McGreavy said he had no significant information to suggest it was a targeted theft.

He said: "The commodity stolen is unusual. Whether the commodity was the intended items I don't know.

"The offenders in this incident have not taken all the items from the van. They've not cleared the van out."

Mr McGreavy revealed that police were looking for at least two suspects.

He said: "The passenger has told us that both doors were opened simultaneously so I think there was a minimum of two offenders."