Thieves broke into a garden centre and stole valuable ornaments of bears and chimpanzees - with the bizarre break-in all caught by CCTV cameras.
The footage shows one burglar struggling to lift a statue of a bear cradling its cub over a perimeter fence, behind which accomplices appear to be waiting on a busy main road. Police are now investigating the theft at Gordon Rigg Garden, Home and Leisure in Rochdale.
Bosses have offered a reward, and say the haul was collectively worth around £500. The garden centre, based on Moss Bridge Road off Kingsway, posted details of the thefts on its Facebook page, together with the CCTV video footage.
They said: "STOLEN!!!! Sunday 5th February 2023 7.55pm
"Reward upon conviction!!!
"Do you know who these thieves are or have you been offered the items for sale?"
The ornaments taken are all made out of resin and the garden centre has appealed to anyone with any information, or anyone offered the items for sale, to contact police.
The two minute-long video shows a hooded figure struggling to lift up the bears statue and haul it over a fence, where it appears two accomplices are waiting.
A smaller statue of a chimpanzee is then successfully passed over.
More statues are brought out from the garden centre by the thief and the footage ends with the thief balancing the bears statue as he once again struggles to lift it over the perimeter fence. The popular garden centre dates back to 1988.
General manager John Jackson said: "I locked up on Sunday night at around 5.15pm and left the premises.
"At 7.55pm, they struck. We came into work this morning to find a lot of pieces of broken statues on the floor. We replayed the CCTV and saw it all.
"They are not heavy - they are as light as a feather really. It is on a main road - cars are going past and everything. Someone must have seen something.
"I would appeal to anyone with any information to come forward and contact the police."
The Manchester Evening News has contacted Greater Manchester Police for comment and no further details have been revealed.
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