Hundreds of pounds stolen from Braco café.

Incident follows attempted theft at Dobbies in Perth at weekend

Police are hunting thieves who smashed their way into a Perthshire coffee shop and made off with a safe containing hundreds of pounds.

The gang of four targeted the café at Braco in the early hours of Monday morning.

Police Scotland has issued a plea for local homes and businesses who may have captured the raid on CCTV.

The break-in at Braco Coffee came less than 48 hours after a similar incident at Dobbies’ Garden Centre in Perth.

Two would-be thieves broke into the Huntingtower Road premises at around 8.30pm on Saturday, but fled when they set off an alarm.

Police have been unable to say whether the two incidents are linked.

A force spokesman said the break-in at Braco Coffee on Front Street happened at around 3.30am.

He said: “Four men, all wearing light coloured jackets or hoodies with their hoods up, and wearing gloves, forced entry to the shop through the front door. They stole a safe containing a four-figure sum of cash before they ran off in the direction of Greenloaning.”

Manager Hazel Reid said: “We were a bit stunned that something like this could happen in our sleepy wee village.

“But we were able to have the shop fully operational on the same day, so it’s business as usual.”

There was an alleged robbery at the Braco Shop in April, just a few doors along from the café.

Police have put out an appeal for witnesses after this weekend’s break-in at Dobbies.

“Two men, described as in their 20s and wearing tracksuits with their hoods up, were seen entering the premises,” the spokesman said. “It appears the alarm activated and scared them off before they could take anything of value.

“Officers would like to trace a dog walker who was in the vicinity at the time, and may have seen the men leaving the area.”

Earlier this summer, a gang of five masked men were caught on camera when they raided the Nisa store at Dunning, near Auchterarder.

They stole thousands of pounds worth of cigarettes, before being chased off by shopkeeper Zubair Aslam.

Anyone with information about the most recent cases is urged to call police on 101, or freephone Crimestoppers in confidence on 0800 555 111.

“

We were a bit stunned that something like this could happen in our sleepy wee village. HAZEL REID

Braco Coffee on Front Street was targeted by four thieves in the early hours of Monday morning.