SHOCKED shoppers watched as three masked men driving a stolen black Porsche robbed a Securicor security van at the Tesco supermarket in Horwich.

The robbers, wearing balaclavas, approached the van in Mansell Way at about 1.30pm yesterday.

The men threatened the security guards with large spanners before escaping with a quantity of cash and driving off towards the M61.

A member of staff from Tesco was treated for shock at the scene but no-one else was injured.

The Porsche Carrera registration Y88 GFN, was reported stolen from Salford on Monday. A Porsche was later found abandoned and burnt out on Clarke Crescent, Little Hulton, and police are now trying to establish whether it is the same vehicle.

Tesco trolley collector Sebastian Raw, aged 17, said: "I was standing by the canteen when I saw two men running around a Securicor van.

"It looked as though one of them was holding something in his hand. It was all very shocking."

Robert Corola, aged 30, who also works as a trolley collector said: "A lot of customers ran towards the incident and some tried to run after the men."