Strike Force Weemala hunt gang over thefts from Williamtown service station and Tea Gardens tobacconist
They crashed through glass doors of a servo to help themselves to $10,000 worth of cigarettes and crudely ripped an ATM from its footings inside a tobacconist. Now, the two jobs – two months and 50km apart – are at the centre of a strike force.
Newcastle
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They used a stolen ute to rip a cash machine from its footings inside a small town tobacconist two months after making a mess while helping themselves to $10,000 worth of cigarettes from a service station more than 50km away.
But a police strike force remains investigating links between the Williamtown service station theft on January 15 and the targeting of a Tea Gardens shop for its ATM on March 16.
And Strike Force Weemala, first established following the service station theft, has released footage of a dark utility seen at Corlette at the same time the utility used in the Tea Gardens rip was stolen from the suburb on the other side of Port Stephens.
The grainy security footage from Corlette catches the second ute as it travels down a suburban road.
By 2.50am, the black Ford ute stolen in Corlette is used to haul a chain attached to the ATM at the tobacconist at Tea Gardens, ripping it from its footings before several masked thieves pull it out of the shop and onto the tray of the ute.
A short time later, police saw the ute on Tarean Road at Karuah, when they attempted stop the vehicle.
When it failed to stop, a chase began before being stopped because of safety issues.
Police suspect both utes were travelling together before being seen by police.
The ATM theft came two months after police were called to the service station on Nelson Bay Rd at Williamtown.
Security footage would later show two masked men smash their way into the business and rip a cigarette panel off the wall before escaping with smokes estimated to be worth about $10,000.
The pair, which left the scene in a silver Subaru SUV, are believed to have attempted another break and enter in Salt Ash a short time before the Williamtown bust.
Police have released some of the images in the hope of garnering information from the public.
Any information should be forwarded to Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.
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