A TATTOO parlour was raided by ‘audacious’ burglars who ripped a safe out of a cellar wall.

The raiders spent two hours walking in and out of Moore Ink Tattoo, in Clayton-le-Moors, and ultimately escaped with around £10,000 in cash and products.

Among the items stolen were piercing jewellery, e-cigarettes, laptops and a petty cash tin. A CCTV camera caught the men breaking into the shop and taking their time to get the items they wanted.

Sean Moore, who owns the Whalley Road shop with his son Lee, 28, said customers’ bookings had had to be put back. He said: “It is annoying more than anything. Luckily we can still open and still work, although we had to rearrange a couple of appointments.

“The way they did it was very cheeky. We have two televisions on the walls and they did not take them down, so I think they must have known what they wanted.

“I think they were just after cash, and grabbed other stuff.”

Mr Moore described how the two men, wearing dark clothing, wooly hats, and scarves over their faces, spent two hours digging the safe, which was bolted in, out of the cellar wall.

They got in through a window at the back of the building, and used the security door to get back out.

Mr Moore said he had heard reports that the men, who were joined by three others, made off in a Vauxhall Corsa.

A police investigation has been launched into the burglary, which happened around 8.30pm last Saturday, and crime scene investigators were searching the premises for footprints and fingerprints.

The CCTV footage has also been taken away for examination.

Mr Moore, who opened the shop four years ago, appealed for anybody with information to contact police.

He said: “Please come forward. We have lost so much, and we do not know if the insurance is going to pay out.”The business owner is now looking to increase security at the parlour.

PC Anna Gavela, from eastern division’s planned response unit, said: “We received reports of a burglary at Moore Ink Tattoo shop on Saturday evening, where about £10,000 worth of property and cash was taken in quite an audacious raid.”

She encouraged anybody with information to contact police on 101, or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555111.