THESE masked thieves made off with more than £1,000 worth of cigarettes after breaking into a Monmouth supermarket.

Two masked men broke into Somerfield, Oldway Centre, Monnow Street, at around 3.50am on March 30, through a door that opens on to the car park at the rear of the store.

The men are believed to have used a crowbar to smash through the glass door. One of the men went straight to the cigarette counter and used a large angle grinder to try and cut through the reinforced shutter.

The second man followed him with two large bags and then left the store again returning with a crowbar to help break open the cigarette cabinet. They then filled the two bags with cigarettes and left through the broken door.

Instore CCTV captured the incident and the thieves are shown frequently checking their watches, which staff beleived showed that they knew they only had 10 minutes before police would arrive, after the alarm was triggered.

The stolen cigarettes are believed be worth around £1,000.

A Gwent Police spokeswoman said they received a call at around 3.55am and confirmed a quantity of cigarettes were stolen.

Anyone with information about the burglary should contact Gwent Police on 101 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555111.