Huge hifi haul

Up to six men wearing black balaclavas "cherry picked" top-of-the-range DVD players, amplifiers and processors from the Bowers & Wilkins factory warehouse in Dale Road, East Worthing, in an 11-hour robbery spree from 5.50pm on Monday. It was one of the biggest ever robberies in the town.

The thieves then loaded 257 items into a white Ford Iveco van parked in a loading bay between 4.25am and 4.52am on Tuesday morning.

The company yesterday launched an internal investigation and offered a 5,000 reward to anyone with information leading to the prosecution and conviction of those responsible and recovery of the stolen goods.

According to police, the men entered the building and "selected goods to order" after they had disabled the building's alarm system, cut phone lines and tried unsuccessfully to disconnect CCTV cameras.

PC Jon Bennion-Jones told the Herald: "They knew bits and pieces like the layout. They knew what they were going for and where the security cameras were. They also didn't go through a main exit door, which you would expect anyone else to do. If they had, there is a camera behind it that would have easily caught their faces. It was very well planned."

PC Bennion-Jones said two men, posing as workmen, wearing fluorescent yellow jackets had cut factory phone lines early on Monday evening while staff were still working inside.

He said the gang then returned to the building, probably via a nearby railway track, at 12.14am to cut through a security fence and disarm the alarm system.

"Throughout the night they have gone up to the building and left to see if anything happened," he said.

The men attempted to disconnect surveillance cameras by smashing a box outside the premises used to turn them on and off, before they forced open a small window on the building's north side to gain entry.

"They broke the control box in the hope that it would turn the CCTV off, but it didn't work."

PC Bennion-Jones said the gang even had the "cheek" to use the company's fork lift truck to load the equipment into their van. The vehicle's roof was fitted with illegal spotlights facing forward "that would just blind you if you saw them".

He added: "It could be that it is all to order because they left a lot of things that were between 300 and 400 and took all the really expensive stuff. They even took the time to find a remote control for something they had taken, so this was not a rushed job."

B&W vice-president Geoff Edwards said most of the equipment, made by specialist manufacturers Rotel and Class, was destined for overseas and not suitable to use in the UK.

Sussex Police could not release descriptions of the raiders as they had not studied CCTV pictures when the Herald went to print.

Anyone with information should contact DC Dave Foster at Worthing CID on 0845 66 77 999, or Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.