The owners of an Albion Park Rail motorcycle dealer have been left “gutted” after a midnight smash-and-grab saw four motorbikes – worth $45,000 – stolen in about 40 seconds.
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Four thieves – who had their faces covered by hoodies but are all believed to be men – raided Carr Brothers Motorcycles under the cover of darkness in the early hours of Wednesday.
CCTV vision shows four Yamaha dirt bikes, worth $11,000 each, being rolled out the door about 2am.
The theft was a planned attack, according to one of the business’ owners, Anthony Hamod.
Mr Hamod said security-camera vision showed the thieves looking through the dealer’s windows about midnight, apparently scoping out its showroom.
They returned two hours later, forcing entry into the Princes Highway building by smashing a glass side door.
Internal CCTV vision shows three people running into the showroom, shoving smaller bikes out of their way, before wheeling the Yamaha YZ250FX and YZ450F motorbikes away.
A few seconds later, a fourth person can be seen fleeing with another bike.
All four are then captured on an outside camera, wheeling the bikes across a car park at the front of the store and making their getaway.
“They were like in and out within 43 seconds,” Mr Hamod said.
“They knew exactly what they were going for; they went for dirt bikes that didn’t require battery starts, so they just kick-started them.”
Mr Hamod said the bikes were filled up using a jerry can, before being ridden away.
The bikes, which are blue and white in colour, were last seen heading south on the highway.
“We’re absolutely gutted. There’s $45,000 worth of bikes there, gone,” he said.
“We’ve got insurance, but our excess will be $2500 a bike – so we are out of pocket $10,000.”
The dealership has only been open about 14 months.
Mr Hamod said the stolen bikes were “very popular” models and “probably the best you can get on the market at the moment”.
Each motorbike has an identification number and Lake Illawarra police are investigating the incident.
Both CCTV clips, which were posted on Facebook about 90 minutes after the theft, had generated a combined 225,000 views by early on Wednesday afternoon.
Anyone with information should call Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 or Lake Illawarra police on 4232 5599.
Andrew Pearson
Andrew grew up in the western Riverina town of Hay and has strong ties to the region. He is a former DA journo who has a passion for breaking news and has covered everything from council and politics to crime and court.
Andrew grew up in the western Riverina town of Hay and has strong ties to the region. He is a former DA journo who has a passion for breaking news and has covered everything from council and politics to crime and court.
