Six people have been arrested after a cash machine was ripped from the wall of a forecourt in Essex and stolen.

A digger was used to smash the wall of a Tesco Express and rip out the ATM at Esso filling station in Brentwood Road, Chadwell St Mary, near Grays in the early hours of Monday July 22.

A large hole was left in the front wall of the shop.

Essex Police later reported that six people had been arrested in relation to the theft of the cash machine.

A spokesman for Essex Police said: “Officers from the Kent and Essex Serious Crime Directorate have arrested six people in the Essex area this morning.

“Five men and a woman were arrested in connection with the theft of cash machines.

“It followed the theft of ATM in the Grays area of Essex in the early hours of Monday, 22 July 2019.