Appeal after £4,000 worth of cigarettes and vapes stolen

We are appealing for information after cigarettes and vapes, worth more than £4,000, and a number of scratch cards, were stolen in two store thefts Newcastle-under-Lyme recently.

We were called to a premises on The Avenue at 2.25am on Tuesday (27 December).

Two men wearing dark clothing, carrying a plastic bag, were seen acting suspiciously in the area, before heading off on foot in the direction of Liverpool Road.

A quantity of cigarettes and vapes, worth £4,500 overall, were reported stolen from the premises a short time later.

A day later, on Wednesday (28 December), we were called to a supermarket on Liverpool Road, at around 3am.

A man had been seen damaging a window before scratch cards, worth more then £300, were reported stolen.

The offender was wearing black clothing, a black face mask and black Nike Air trainers, carrying a grey rucksack.

He was later seen heading in the direction of Whitehall Avenue on foot.

We believe the thefts may be linked and are increasing our patrols in the area to reassure the community.

We are also keen to speak to anyone who saw what happened or who may have relevant CCTV or dashcam footage of the thefts.

Anyone with information should contact us on Facebook, Twitter, or call 101, quoting incident number 061 of 28 December.

Alternatively, contact Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.