RAIDERS broke into a Malvern off-licence and made off with hundreds of pounds worth of cigarettes and alcohol.

Two thieves used a crowbar to force open the security shutter and front door of Bargain Booze, in Barnards Green, in the early hours of Sunday morning.

Manager Richard Button has been left counting the cost of the raid, with the store forced to remain closed on Sunday morning and the few remaining cigarette supplies quickly running out by that afternoon.

“I really could not believe what happened to be honest, I don’t know how they have got away with it so far," Mr Button said. "This is a relatively new business that is just finding its feet and becoming known.

“We are not a huge company, to be broken into and have a vast amount of stock and money taken from us really sets us back.

“Finding out what the two lads had done was a really bad moment, I hope that someone will help catch them soon."

Police say the front door of the store and shutter were forced open before thieves left via the backdoor.

The shop was closed until 1pm on Sunday, with the police crime scene investigations team on site as well as forensics teams in an attempt to identify the culprits.

Mr Button said the thieves left the store very short of stock, particularly cigarettes, which ran out quickly on Sunday.

He added: “It’s had a really bad effect on the levels of stock we have and we could not open the store on Sunday morning because we had people at the store looking at the damage that had been done to the door and the shutter.

“It is hard to put an exact number on how much has been stolen but it was a few hundred pounds.

“We will be looking into adding extra security to the shop but as it only happened at the weekend, we have not made any decisions as of yet.

“I would urge anyone who might have seen anything to get in touch with police."

Anyone with information should call police on 101 quoting incident number 0292S 240716.