A NEWPORT cafe lost hundreds of pounds and a fundraising box for a 9/11 charity after being targeted by burglars.

Smoky's Cafe, in the Pill area of the city, was broken into over night from Tuesday to Wednesday this week.

Owner Daniel Webb said that he had been alerted at around 5.45am yesterday morning.

The police were already on-scene by the time he arrived at the cafe.

"The people who broke in had been trying cars in the street," he said, noting that CCTV had been passed on to the police.

"They jumped our fence and pried the shutters open."

READ MORE:

The burglars then squeezed between the shutter and the window, a gap of not much more than a foot, before smashing the glass with a brick.

"£400 was taken, roughly," said Mr Webb.

"We're an American cafe and we'd been collecting for 9/11.

"They stole the charity box with about £200 in there."

The night of the burglarly was the only night that cash had been left on the premises.

"It's only our fourth week open," said Mr Webb, who said he had spent all day at the cafe sorting out the mess.