A gang who made off with thousands of pounds from a Billericay off licence were a ''well organised professional team,'' say police.

The gang raided Threshers Off Licence on Bridge Parade, near the Gooseberry Green roundabout, at about 2.43am on Monday.

Police said they disabled the alarm and cut the phone lines before carefully removing the entire rear window and cutting through the metal security bars. They made off with a mammoth £12,000 haul of cigarettes, whisky and cash.

With the raid coming just two days after a similarly planned break in on a Threshers store on Canvey Island, police are convinced that they are not dealing with ordinary opportunist burglars.

"We have been talking to Threshers' security officer and he says this is a carbon copy of Friday night's raid on Canvey Island,'' said a police spokesman.

"It's clear that what we are dealing with here is a well organised professional team."

Billericay Police have examined video footage taken by the shop's in-store security cameras before they were disabled. The intruders wore balaclavas and gloves.

Superdrug stores in Billericay and Canvey Island were targeted in similar raids earlier this year, when £14,000 was taken from the Billericay branch, but at the moment police are not linking these to the Threshers raids.

Anybody who has any information or who saw or heard anything suspicious should contact Sgt Dave Griffiths at Billericay Police Station on 01277 631212 or Crimestoppers on 0800 555111 .

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