Plotting: Four of the captured gang members were finally brought to justice after they pleaded guilty to their part in the crime. The fifth failed to show up and is on the run




    Six men posed as workmen to drill into petrol station cash machine
    The operation took four hours to prepare under the noses of customers
    But police arrived when they started drilling and they tried to escape
    Four of the gang were caught and sentenced but one is on the run



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    A gang of bungling robbers posed as workmen and tried to drill their way into a petrol station cash machine as customers walked by.
    Undercover police watched in amazement as the gang, dressed in hard hats and hi-vis jackets, mounted an audacious bid to drill through the floor of the petrol station shop and into a cash machine even though customers were still coming and going on a busy Saturday afternoon.
    Acting on a tip-off, officers mounted a surveillance operation and saw members of the gang pretend to be measuring out the plot of land at the rear of the Harvest Energy petrol station on Cheetham Hill Road in Manchester on September 15.