BURGLARS stole cigarettes, cash and stock worth £5,000 from a newsagents in an overnight raid.

Thieves smashed their way in to M&S confectioners, in London Road, Rayleigh.

They stole a laptop, cigarettes and magazines and even damaged the till and lottery scratchcard machine during the rampage.

The raid took place between 6pm on Saturday, April 18, and 5am the following morning.

Owner Abdul Rahim, 51, said: “I couldn’t believe it. My employee went to open up on Sunday morning and the lock was smashed.

“They disabled the alarm and somehow they disabled the CCTV.

“They left it in a right state.

There was stuff everywhere and they had left the heater on.

“I came in and it really smelt of burning, it’s a wonder it didn’t catch fire.

“The stock is going to cost me aboutd £4,000 to £5,000 to replace.”

Mr Rahim’s sister, Sultana Majid, 39, locked up on the night of the burglary.

She said: “We are only a small corner shop and we have been here for 18 years and it’s the first time anything like this has happened to us.

“I was gutted when I found out. We are only a small business and it’s hard to replace everything.

“They knew what they were coming in for. They took cash, a laptop and damaged the till too.”

Anyone with information about the incident can call police on 101.