Police have stepped up patrols in key city and town centre locations to protect empty properties after it emerged criminals are already taking advantage of the coronavirus crisis.
Police found crowbars, an axe, a lump hammer and an angle grinder when they stopped a suspicious vehicle near a business in Manchester city centre on Tuesday night during the first 24 hours of the national lockdown announced by Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
Three suspects were arrested. The discovery was made as GMP was ramping up night-time patrols in the city centre and other key commercial centres which have been vacated by pubs, restaurants, dry-cleaners and other non-essential businesses obliged to shut as part of the bid to stem the coronavirus pandemic,
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