FOUR more shops have been attacked this week in the continuing spate of raids on stores across Oxfordshire.

Thames Valley Police this week renewed their warnings to firms about improving security after two newsagents and a two service stations were targeted in the space three days.

It took to 12 the number of store burglaries, ramraids and robberies this year, however, detectives are not linking any of them at this stage, saying that different levels of "professionalism" were used in the crimes.

Two masked men stole a large quantity of cigarettes from the shop at Bellingers Garage next to the A338 road, at Grove, early on Wednesday.

The raiders, who were spotted on security cameras getting out of a dark-coloured BMW, possibly a 3-Series saloon, at about 3.30am, used crowbars to force security shutters and then smashed a glass door to gain entry.

On Monday morning, a gang broke into Dillons, in Elms Parade, Botley, and stole £5,000 worth of cigarettes.

Two men were seen at 3am by the witnesses using sledgehammers to smash open the door to the shop, while a third man kept watch next to a blue new-shape Vauxhall Astra.

The car had been reversed up to the shop front.

Manageress Dawn Sellick said: "They trashed the cigarette shelves and just grabbed as many packets as they could."

The two men loaded the cigarettes into the car boot before driving off at speed up Cumnor Hill.

All three men were wearing gloves and balaclavas, and the man keeping watch was wearing light blue jeans, a dark jacket and black balaclava.

On Sunday, at least three men broke into the Frilford service station, in Marcham Road, and made off with £4,800 worth of money and cigarettes.

They also stole an undisclosed amount from the garage's cash machine, which can hold up to £50,000, after cutting phone lines in the area to stop alarms going off.

The gang broke into the building on Sunday between 1.45am and 5.40am Police spokesman Tim Wiseman added: "It was very professional to say the least."

On Saturday, masked robbers stole thousands of pounds from Balfour News in Cherwell Drive, Marston, Oxford.

At about 5.30am, a female worker who was opening the shop was approached by two balaclava-clad men, who forced her to open the safe.

Mr Wiseman said: "Part of these investigations is to examine any possible links with similar offences (but) there are no clear links at this time.

"We will continue to keep an open mind to any possible connections." He added: "We reiterate our calls for business people to invest in the best-quality security devices like shutters and CCTV cameras everything that makes it more difficult to get in or less likely to be a target."

February saw: armed robbers steal £200 and five packets of cigarettes from Gibbs Garage, in Reading Road, Cholsey; raiders steal a cash machine from Dillons in Northcourt Road, Abingdon; raiders smash their way into Martin's Newsagent in Banbury Road, Summertown, and the Co-op Swiftshop in Old Marston Road, Marston; masked raiders tie up staff at the Tesco petrol station in Eynsham before making off with thousands of pounds; a motorcycle and quad bike stolen from TTR Motorcycles in Hans Avenue, Wantage after a break-in. An Oxford man last week admitted carrying out the raid.

On January 23, armed robbers stole £30,000 from the Co-op in Chipping Norton.

On January 7, a gang fled empty-handed after the Range Rover they used to ramraid Salford Stores in Salford Road, New Marston, became stuck in rubble, and six days earlier, just hours into the New Year, thieves ramraided the Co-op in Stanford in the Vale, and drove off with a cash machine.

  • A man has been arrested over the raids in Botley, Frilford and Balfour News, Marston.