THIEVES set fire to a stolen lorry inside a warehouse after unloading hundreds of satellite decoders.
They took the lorry from an industrial unit in Middleton and set it alight on the Wardley Industrial Estate, Swinton, just before 6pm last night.
Fire crews battled the blaze for two hours and six firefighters wearing breathing apparatus went into the breeze-block and corrugated metal building to put out the flames.
Station officer Tim Greenwood, from Farnworth fire station, said: "The lorry was destroyed and the building was partially damaged. We contacted the police because we suspected that somebody had started the fire in a bid to conceal a crime."
The 40ft-long curtain-sided lorry, with its load of Pace satellite decoders, was reported stolen from Finlan Road, Middleton, on Saturday.
The thieves are thought to have emptied it's load of Pace satellite decoders before starting the fire on the Wardley Industrial Estate off Fallons Road, Swinton.
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