A TAKEAWAY owner was left devastated after his new business was cleaned out by thieves — just three weeks after it opened.

Cooking equipment including grills, fryers, a hotplate, and kebab spit, were taken along with cash registers in the raid on Ranchero's One in Market Street, Farnworth.

Chm Anil, the owner, thinks the items stolen were worth £20,000 and spoke of his dismay after bringing new jobs to Farnworth.

CCTV footage, which captured the raid, showed up to seven men entering the takeaway from a van parked at the back. They kicked in the back door to gain entry, and spent between one and two hours inside, according to Mr Anil.

Mr Anil said: "When I got to work and I lifted up the shutter, there was nothing there.

"It was unbelievable, like a nightmare. There were just sauces splashed everywhere.

"It was just a huge shock. I was left speechless. They took everything you can imagine."

Mr Anil, aged 38, has previously run takeaways in Atherton, St Helens, Glossop and Wigan.

He said opening the Farnworth business, which sells burgers, kebabs and pizzas, cost him a £12,000 investment.

He added: "The police have been there and said seven or eight people may have been involved.

"We are a new business opening, bringing jobs to Farnworth.

"It is devastating that this has happened to us so quickly.

"I have been in the takeaway trade for 16 years and nothing like this has ever happened before."

Ranchero's One is now closed until further notice, while Mr Anil attempts to replace the stolen equipment.

The restaurant did not have internal CCTV coverage, because they had been open for such a short period.

A police spokesman said: "We were called at 12.40pm on January 13.

"A group of offenders have broken the back door and stolen all the cooking equipment between 1am and 12.40pm. We are still investigation and no arrests have been made."