Puma Parkhurst, IGA Park Avenue broken into overnight February 22

A group of at least 11 offenders took off with thousands of dollars of cigarettes and fled the scene in a convoy of three stolen vehicles. WATCH THE VIDEO.

A gang of thieves used a fire extinguisher to smash their way into the Puma service station at Parkhurst overnight where they stole thousands of dollars worth of cigarettes and fled in a convoy of stolen vehicles.

The group was captured on CCTV just after midnight on February 22.

A smaller group of three people then attended the IGA on Main Street in Park Avenue where they smashed through the front window but were ultimately unsuccessful in gaining access to the cigarette cabinet and left the scene.

No staff were injured in either incident.

The offenders travelled in three stolen vehicles which were all located abandoned by Wednesday morning and will now undergo forensic examination.

A white Subaru was also stolen from Lamington Street, The Range, and involved in a hit and run.

Rockhampton CIB Detective Acting Inspector Luke Peachey said police had reason to believe the break and enters and hit and run were connected.

“It is a jigsaw puzzle at the moment trying to put all this together,” he said.

“We do have some belief that these offences may be linked … Now it will be up to us to prove that.”

The alarming incident comes as this publication joined forces with every NewsCorp daily newspaper and digital masthead across the state for the Enough is Enough campaign, calling on the government and the Opposition to transparently publish the rate of youth reoffending, Indigenous young people in detention, and the proportion of serious repeat offenders – with the goal of driving these numbers down.

There is no evidence at this stage to confirm if youths were involved in the crimes, however Inspector Peachey said they had their suspicions.

He noted there were some offences in the past couple of days in Duaringa and Gogango, west of Rockhampton, that police know juveniles were involved in.

A group of offenders using a fire extinguisher to break into the Puma service station at Parkhurst.

There was also a recent case of a large amount of alcohol stolen from Blackwater and found buried in the ground at Woorabinda - where alcohol is restricted.

“We are quite aware of a couple of people and the major players involved,” he said.

“We are keeping a really open mind to persons who are responsible.

“If those persons are found to be on bail, then we will take the appropriate action.”

In the past week, 150 offences have been reported to police in the Rockhampton local government area, according to QPS statistics.

Of these offences, 20 have been unlawful entry and eight have been unlawful use of motor vehicles.

“It escalated last night,” Inspector Peachey said.

“We know it’s challenging, we know it’s frustrating for the public, we will continue to throw resources and rest assured these people will be in custody in the near future.”

Locals have taken to Rockhampton and Central Queensland Facebook crime watch pages to share sightings of stolen vehicles and other suspicious offences, and Inspector Peachey asked community members ensured those incidents were also reported to police.

“If they (the public) want to put it on Facebook, that’s up to them and I can see the benefits of that, but we just ask them to notify police,” he said.

“We have no issues with reporting on crime watch pages, but we don’t monitor them 24/7.”

Speaking to the new youth crime legislation announced this week, Inspector Peachey said it would “only help us (police)”.

“We are very aware that youth crime is a complex matter, it involves more than just police, it involves the community, the support agencies, most importantly the families and we need to get everyone on board,” he said.

“By giving us the power again that making breaches of bail are an offence, we support that and think it’s very positive.

“These juveniles now have to answer if they have breached bail and we will take the appropriate action.”

Police have released CCTV footage from the Puma service station and are appealing to the public for more information.

According to police, the stolen vehicles that have been recovered and were used in the incidents include a white 2022 Toyota Landcruiser (Queensland registration DOM 970), a white 2017 Mitsubishi ASX (Queensland registration 043DE3), and a blue 2021 Hyundai Kona (Queensland registration 137CV9).

There is no suggestion of any wrongdoing by the owners of the vehicles.

Any witnesses or anyone with information or dashcam/CCTV vision is urged to contact police.

Originally published as Puma Parkhurst, IGA Park Avenue broken into overnight February 22