Police investigating break-and-enters minutes apart at Coffs Harbour Butterfly House, Liberty Providore Urunga

Police are probing whether the smash-and-grab raid of a cafe minutes before a break-in at a popular Coffs Harbour tourist attraction are linked. Thieves nabbed cash and cookies.

CCTV footage from inside Liberty Providore Urunga on September 16 shows two thieves – one wearing a Tupac hoodie. Picture: Supplied

Police are now probing whether the smash-and-grab raid of a cafe shortly before a break-in at popular Coffs Harbour tourist attraction the Butterfly House are linked.

It was reported on Tuesday the Strouds Rd, Bonville tourist drawcard – which is full of exotic butterfly species - had been targeted by would-be burglars, who seemingly got cold feet and “freaked out”.

A black car with at least two passengers approached the electric security gates at the Butterfly House about 12.45am on Monday, September 16.

CCTV footage from inside Liberty Providore at Urunga on September 16 shows one thief wearing white shoes and black clothing. Picture: Supplied

CCTV shows a man exiting the car’s front passenger door and trying to force his way through a gate, eventually pulling the bolts off, according to business owner Verne Saville.

“It took a lot of force and they had to work really hard to break the gates open and pull the bolts off,” Ms Saville said earlier.

Ms Saville and husband Troy heard a massive bang, but did not “think much of it” at first.

She heard the car race to the top of the property and leave in about a minute.

“They’ve driven in and mustn’t have realised we live on-site so they’ve seen our cars and freaked out,” Ms Saville said.

Security camera footage from the Butterfly House show a man at the gate and the vehicle used to drive into the premises after midnight on September 16.

“They caught that much of a fright and turned around and left, so it was lucky we had our lights on and were still up.”

Coffs/Clarence Police have confirmed the incidents early on Monday, including the first at Liberty Providore on Giina gay Way at Urunga.

Owner Emily Foschi said her cafe was broken into by two men about 15 minutes before CCTV cameras captured the Butterfly House incident. The animal attraction is about 15 minutes drive away.

The thieves inside the cafe. Picture: Supplied

It was not yet clear on Wednesday whether the crimes were connected, according to NSW Police.

Ms Foschi, who has owned Liberty Providore for eight years, said the thieves were caught on her security cameras about 12:30am.

“They crowbar-ed in through the front door, kicked it in, took the (cash) float, a jar of cookies and were out all within four minutes, she said.

“I’m grateful they didn’t trash the place and we could go on trading the next day.”

The car leaving the Butterfly House in the early hours of September 16. Picture: Supplied

Ms Foschi described the men as wearing dark tracksuits. The shorter of the two wore white shoes. The taller man was wearing a Tupac hoodie.

When Ms Foschi saw this publication’s initial reporting on the Butterfly House break-in, she could not help but notice one person captured on that business’ CCTV wore white shoes too.

Ms Saville had already reported the incident to police by that stage.

It is the first time the couple’s property has been broken into since they bought the business six years ago.

Coffs Harbour Butterfly House owners Troy and Verne Saville, pictured with two of their children, were onsite when the would-be thieves seemingly got cold feet.

They installed a fence of about 1.8m tall around the perimeter when they came on-board.

Security measures have been ramped up again since Monday’s incident, including more cameras and the reinforcement of gates.

Police investigations continue. Know more? Phone Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.

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