POLICE are warning residents to keep their house and car keys out of the reach of thieves.
The alert follows a burglary in Prestwich on Friday morning (Jan 31) at a house in Harrogate Avenue when burglars forced their way into the property and stole a 62-year-old man's car keys.
They then made off with a £16,000 Vauxhall Astra.
PC John Flowers said: "It is not clear whether the theft of the car was the ultimate objective of the raiders but once they had gained entry they quickly located the victim's car keys.
"This was an opportunist theft which may have been avoided if the car keys had been left away from the front door and in a more secure place."
PC Flowers said that another method of stealing car or house keys was by pushing a coat hanger through letterboxes to hook keys off tables near the front doors.
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