Crimecall appeal for men who stole e-cigarettes, tobacco and donations in the Midlands

Gardai have mad an appeal for information on men who stole e-cigarettes, tobacco and charity donations in the Midlands.

On August 25, Portlaoise police received a report of a burglary in a service station in Ballybrittas, Co. Laois. At 03.50pm the four suspects had entered the village, their dark 30 BMW car is seen on CCTV pulling up on the opposite side of the road to the service station and two men get out of the vehicle.

One of the front headlights on the 30 BMW vehicle appears to have not been working, the vehicle also has tinted windows.

CCTV captures one of the men as he enters the service station while the other is seen on the lookout.

The first man is seen looking for a location to enter into the premises and he then beckons to the other suspects to come and see. A man with a grey baseball cap and hood over his head joins the two men and two of the men can be seen looking around the premises before briefly returning to the car.

All four men are then seen entering the forecourt where they go to the front window of the premises armed with a hammer and a crowbar.

The suspects force their way into the shop before smashing through the glass window with a hammer. Once inside, they begin to ransack the shop, kicking open a locked door and enter behind the counter, proceeding to take e-cigarettes and tobacco.

Two of the men spend time rooting around the area, all items taken were placed in a brown box on the ground. One man is then seen handing over the box to another man who then brings the box to the BMW car.

Two of the men spend another few minutes looking around the shop before they exited the premises.

Along with a significant amount of vapes and tobacco, the suspects also take cash from a local donation box, they had been inside the shop for just four minutes.

The four suspects are then seen leaving Ballybrittas and heading towards R445 in direction of Monasterevin.

The first suspect is of slim build and can be seen wearing a grey hat, a black tracksuit top with reflective stripes and black tracksuit bottoms. He is also wearing grey runners and a black face covering and purple gloves.

The second suspect is seen wearing a grey hoodie, black bottoms and black runners. While all four suspects are well covered up, gardaí are hoping that anyone who might recognise something, even an article of clothing or detail about any of the suspects will come forward.

The suspects are believed to be aged in their twenties and the other two suspects are both wearing dark coloured clothing.

Gardaí are appealing to the public for any information or dashcam footage that may have been captured of the incident and they have also asked anyone who might have been offered the sale of vapes or tobacco to contact Portlaoise garda station.

The public can get in touch by contacting 1800 40 50 60 or Free Text 'Crime' followed by your information to 7765 or email crimecall@garda.ie