Officers at South Wales Police hope dramatic CCTV footage taken from a Merthyr betting shop which was recently targeted by thieves, will encourage people to come forward with valuable information.
On Monday (April 16), at around 1.45am, a local man called the police when he was awoken by the crash of a vehicle as it reversed through the glass doors of the Coral betting shop, which is in the Market Square area of the Town.
Three males – one equipped with a crowbar – headed for the shop counter. A fourth person remained in the vehicle.
Almost as soon as they arrived at the counter, the three males headed back to the vehicle and drove away from the scene along Victoria Street and into Church Street.
Officers suspect they had lost their nerve after realising they had underestimated the shop’s security. They got away with nothing but caused thousands of pounds worth of damage.
The vehicle used in the incident, a dark coloured Diahatsu Fourtrak, was recovered – it had been dumped at a nearby location called Kingsley Terrace what police believe to be a short time later.
It is now known the vehicle used was stolen from New Tredegar, Gwent.
Detective Sergeant Roy Portlock, said: “We are appealing to anybody with information about this incident to come forward.
“We are looking for four people, and believe they may well be from the local area.
“We know the vehicle used was stolen from the New Tredegar area so somebody there may have noticed something suspicious.
“Or people may have heard something late that night as they dumped the vehicle to make their escape.
“The CCTV footage captures the whole scenario and it shows just how reckless they were. It was very lucky nobody was seriously hurt.”
Anybody with information is urged to contact Merthyr CID via 101 or contact Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.
Footage of the raid can be seen on youtube at http://bit.ly/HNaxCU
