POLICE are investigating whether two armed robberies, which happened within minutes of each other, are linked.

Thieves struck the Shell petrol station on Bolton Road, Atherton at around 2.30am on Tuesday. Two masked men armed with baseball bats threatened the cashier before smashing a security screen and escaping with cigarettes, phone cards and a small quantity of cash.

Fifteen minutes later two men entered the 24-hour Asda on Atherleigh Way, Leigh, and headed directly for the cigarette kiosk where they threatened the cashier before stealing a small amount of cigarettes.

The men were masked and armed with a large spanner, one was draped in a bed sheet. The pair escaped in the direction of Westleigh in a red Rover driven by a third man.