POLICE swooped on three men in Bolton in connection with an armed robbery at a jewellers on Monday.

Robbers armed with bats and a machete struck at Humberstones in King William IV Street, Blackburn. They smashed a pane of glass in the door and snatched jewellery from a display and a safe.

The raiders fled in a red VW Golf found abandoned in Spring Bank Terrace, Blackburn. They then transferred to a BMW, which police then traced to Bolton.

Two men, aged 27, were arrested in Scout Road, Smithills at 2.45pm, just hours later.

A third man, also aged 27, was arrested in Thicketford Road, Tonge Moor at 5.50pm. The three men were last night still being quizzed in police custody.

Two of them are from Bolton, while the other is from Wigan.

Det Insp Eric Halford said: "These arrests are the latest stage in this investigation, but we are continuing to make inquiries and further arrests may follow."

The arrests come after three armed robberies in Bolton in the space of 11 days.

Aldi in Trinity Street was targeted by a gang armed with machetes on June 29, before four men with axes on motorbikes struck at H&T Pawnbrokers in Newport Street on July 3.

Then on Friday last week, Asda in St Helens Road, Daubhill was targeted when a gang stole a box from a cash-in-transit delivery van.