A FEARLESS jeweller chased a gang of bungling armed robbers out of his store while still wearing his slippers.

Munawer Zafrani, aged 46, decided to take a stand for “decent people” everywhere when a gang of masked raiders, armed with axes and hammers, targeted his business.

Arming himself with a baseball bat, he launched himself at the gang, hitting one of them over the head and chasing them out on to the street.

He smashed the rear window of their getaway car and then chased after another robber who was trying to escape on foot.

He was unable to catch the frightened raider because he could not run fast enough in his slippers.

Mr Zafrani, who owns the Bombay Jewellers, in Derby Street, Daubhill, said: “They were lucky to get out.

“I was just defending myself, my property and decent people. We have had enough of these crooks trying to take away the money we have earned.”

The drama unfolded at around 11am yesterday when a young man, aged between 17 and 20, knocked on the door of the shop, asking to be let in.

Mr Zafrani buzzed him in, but the man stood holding the door open while he claimed to be finishing a cigarette.

Suddenly, a red car pulled up and three men wearing balaclavas, armed with a hammer and an axe, ran into the shop.

Quickly seeing the danger, Mr Zafrani activated the security alarm which safely locked him behind bullet-proof security glass.

But that meant the raiders were left to go on the rampage.

He said: “They all came in and started smashing my cabinets up and I just lost my temper.

“I picked up my son’s baseball bat, opened the door and laid into one of them. I hit him in the head and shoulder and he fell into the cabinet.

“When you are fighting four or five people you don’t know what’s happening. One guy threw his hammer at me so I ducked and they all ran off.

“I chased after them and when they got into the car I smashed the back windscreen,” said Mr Zafrani, whose family have owned the business for almost 30 years.

“I ran after another one, who was on foot, but unfortunately I was in my slippers and I couldn’t catch him. I was lucky. They didn’t manage to get anything.”

The gang left the shop in such a hurry they dropped a holdall and one even left a shoe at the scene, which was cordoned off yesterday afternoon while forensic officers searched for evidence.

A red Ford Escort was later found abandoned near Lever Street, Great Lever.

A 17-year-old boy was arrested on suspicion of robbery and was being interviewed by detectives last night.

Mr Zafrani said the adrenaline got the better of him. “I didn’t think about it.

“When it’s your property and your family you try to defend it in the best way you can,” said the jeweller.

A police spokesman confirmed: “A jewellery shop owner fought off robbers with a baseball bat when four masked men came into Bombay jewellers, in Derby Street, Bolton, brandishing a hammer and an axe.”

One eye-witness, from a nearby business, said: “I heard something smashing and then just saw this guy legging it.”

The raiders were between 18 and 20 years old, Asian and between 5ft 9ins and 6ft tall. All wore balaclavas.

Anyone with information is asked to call Bolton CID on 0161 856 5740 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.

pkeaveny@the boltonnews.co.uk