Supermarket staff have spoken of their “scary” ordeal after their manager was threatened with a knife “over cans of Red Bull”.

Police are investigating after they were called to reports of three men detained for shoplifting at Tesco, Ley Street, Ilford, at 1.15pm.

All three men were released and left the store walking off in the direction of Brisbane Road after the manager was threatened with the knife.

Customer assistant Ahsan Razzaq said: “I came off the tills and three guys were by the drinks. One tried to distract me with a question about sugar content, but I saw one in a hat take eight or nine Red Bulls.

“He started walking so I followed him and the duty manager stopped him outside. In a threatening manner the one in the hat said ‘I will kill you, come round the corner’.

“The manager told him to empty his pockets. He started to empty his pockets and then he took a knife out and swung at the manager. The manager just dodged out of the way and then the man spat all over his trousers and walked off.

“It was scary – they could have taken his life away over a can of Red Bull. The manager was really brave.”

Customer assistant James Pushpanathan said: “I’m scared to work here.”

A shopper who witnessed the incident said: “All hell broke loose as he pulled a knife out. He said ‘I will stab you’ – the knife looked about four-and-a-half inches long.”

One of the men is described as a white man, about 18-years-old, 5ft tall, of slim build with dark brown hair. He was wearing a black jacket and dark bottoms.

The second and third suspects are described as white men, aged between 18 and 23, about 5ft 2ins, of slim build and with dark brown hair.

No one was injured and no arrests have been made.

Enquiries continue.

Anyone with information can call police on 101 or report it anonymously to Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.