THIEVES cut a hole in the ceiling of a specialist store to steal six off-road motorbikes and equipment worth nearly £20,000.

The owners of Extreme Motocross in Albert Road, Farnworth, have spoken about the destructive raid on December 30 2015 after posting about the crime on social media.

Kieran Gould, who is buying a quarter of the business, told The Bolton News: "Above the shop we have an empty flat and were waiting for the keys.

"One of the lads who works for us was going to move in, to provide a bit of security.

"The burglars broke in through the back and lifted the floorboards in the bedroom and cut through the floor joists and dropped in through the ceiling.

"They pulled the hidden alarm off. We have a steel door but the locks are on the inside so you can't break in from the outside.

"The burglars have had time to break these locks on the steel door from the inside and that's how they managed to wheel a couple of the bikes out.

"They only took bikes that were running and they must have been there for about an hour.

"They cut through the chains on the bikes."

Three machines belonging to customers and three owned by the business were stolen.

Those being repaired for clients were an orange and black KTM85 model from 2006, a red and white Honda CRF450 from 2002 and a twin pipe white and black 2008-reg Honda CRF250 adorned with Monster Energy stickers and emblazoned with the racing number '43'.

The shop's models taken were a plain red and black Honda CRF250 from 2008 with brand new plastic bodywork, a scuffed red and white 2006 CRF250 and a 2007-reg orange and black KTM250 with Renthal stickers.

Burglars ignored the four machines that were in bits and raided the glass display cabinets for helmets, motorbiking suits, boots, gloves, levers and specialist handlebars.

Co-owners Nathan Millward and Kyle Doherty — part of whose share Mr Gould is purchasing — only relocated in October from an industrial unit in Emlyn Street in Moses Gate they had outgrown due to the success of their venture.

Mr Gould said: "We didn't have enough room when we were repairing bikes.

"We just decided to move into a shop and do it full time. We are staying here up until 9pm and right up to 10pm on Christmas Eve.

"There's no other motocross shop in Bolton."

Mr Gould estimated the bikes were worth a combined £13,500 and the stolen stock £5,000.

The trio are beefing up security as part of the repair and refurbishment of the wrecked shop.

Mr Gould said: "The only thing we can do is keep going, really although it's made us a bit more wary about what customers are coming in.

"No-one else knew where the alarm box was hidden and someone must have seen it by coming into the shop."