Masked robbers armed with baseball bats threatened staff at a convivence store, demanding they hand over cash before escaping with a quantity of cigarettes.
Detectives have launched an investigation and are appealing to anyone with information to come forward and contact them. They said 'damage' was also caused to the shop in the robbery.
Police in Cheshire, who are hunting three men, said no one was injured during the raid, but one member of staff was left 'extremely shaken'.
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Three men with bats burst into the convenience store on School Road, Orford, Warrington, at around 10pm on Saturday night.
In a statement, Cheshire Police said: "At around 10pm on Saturday 22 April, three men with baseball bats entered a convenience store on School Road, Orford, and demanded money from shop workers and caused damage to the shop. The men, who were all dressed in black with black masks, took a quantity of cigarettes before fleeing the scene.
"An investigation has now been launched and detectives are appealing to anyone with information to come forward."
Detective Sergeant Joe McNally said: "This distressing incident has left a staff member extremely shaken and I want to make it clear that we are doing all we can to locate the offenders and bring them to justice.
"You will see a number of officers in and around the School Road area and I would urge anyone with concerns to speak to an officer.
"We are following several lines of enquiry, including CCTV, and as part of these, we are appealing to members of the public who may have seen something not quite right to get in touch.
"Whether you have CCTV or dashcam of the area and have not yet spoken to police or if you heard something that could assist, please get in touch with us and we’ll do the rest."
Contact Cheshire Police via the Cheshire Police website quoting IML 1530589 or call 101.
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