Police believe that a gang using a 4x4 vehicle may be operating in Wiltshire after £2,000 was taken from a safe at the Edington Farm Shop – the latest in a spate of similar burglaries.

The theft happened at about 1.47am on Sunday, July 27, at the shop in Westbury Road.

On the weekend between Friday, July 18, and Sunday, July 20, it is thought the gang also struck at the Little Chef, at the services on the A303 near Warminster, when £500 was taken from its safe. It was reported on Monday, July 21, at 1.30pm.

It is believed that the thieves got in by driving across a field in a four wheel drive vehicle and entering the back of the building by a fire door.

Three days earlier, between 7pm on Friday, July 18, and 2pm on Saturday, July 19, thieves stole a safe from Lyons Seafood Ltd Warehouse in Chitterne Road, Codford.

They smashing the reception door with a sledgehammer.

The safe was found opened in a field near Upavon about 21 miles away. It is not yet know what was stolen.

On May 5 thieves smashed through the wall of the White Horse Country Club with sledgehammers and took a safe containing £4,000.

Police believe that a group of four again drove a four wheel drive vehicle over a field to the rear of the property.

The safe was later found in Pewsey Woods nearly 27 miles away, but only about three miles from where the safe in Upavon was discovered.

Police believe that a Silver Subaru Forester or Impreza four-wheel-drive could have been used on a number of the raids, and the thefts have been linked to similar ones which happened in Hampshire and the Thames Valley force areas.

Contact Andy Henson from the Priority Crime Team on 101 or call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.