FOOTAGE of two hooded thieves could hold the key to solving a series of break-ins across the North East over the past week.
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Police yesterday released the security camera recording from a break-in at the Wodonga Golf Club at 5.30am on Saturday.
It shows a pair of men in hooded jackets approaching the main glass doors of the Clubhouse and one of them attempting to open the entrance with a jemmy bar.
Detective Sergeant Graeme Simpfendorfer said they later entered through another part of the building and escaped with a small amount of cash.
Police also impounded a red Hyundai Excel yesterday after finding the car in Zeinert Street, West Wodonga.
Detective Sergeant Simpfendorfer said the car was believed to be tied to a break-in at Yarrawonga's Black Bull Golf Club last week.
He also believes the latest theft at Wodonga's golf club is tired to an attempted break-in at the Baranduda general store early Saturday and thefts involving a Chiltern hotel and Bundalong cafe last week.
"We're confident that the offences we've seen in Yarrawonga, Bundalong and Chiltern are linked to what's happened in the early hours of Saturday morning,” Detective Sergeant Simpfendorfer said.
"Some aspects of what we’re seeing shows there's a level of organisation, but execution-wise there's a few mistakes and we'll capitalise on that and hope to bring them in pretty soon."
Detective Sergeant Simpfendorfer said it was likely the thieves would continue their spree unless they were caught.
"We want to stop the offending, the damage to local business is significant,” he said.
"There's excess, there's insurance and the level of damage that's done for a small amount of cash is a problem for these businesses, so we're pretty keen to put a stop to it.
"We're asking for any people that have information surrounding this group to give us a ring."
Detective Sergeant Simpfendorfer declined to speculate on the motivation for the thefts.
"It's hard to say, we could hazard a guess as to what it is, but it's really insignificant to us at the moment, we just want to catch them as soon as we can,” he said.
There did not appear to be any connection between the premises being hit by the criminals.
"It's random, it's opportunistic," Detective Sergeant Simpfendorfer said.
Anybody with information about the break-ins and the pair caught in the footage can phone Wodonga police on (02) 6049 2600.
