A NUMBER of rural buildings have been targeted by burglars in a crime spree.

Thousands of pounds worth of scrap metal was stolen from Ak Metals Limited in Marks Tey.

A group of six burglars started by breaking the CCTV cameras and alarms outside the business in Old London Road.

This triggered a security alert at about 11.30pm on Thursday and police and the business manager, Ashis Jaiswal, went out to investigate.

However, the burglars had been hiding and emerged again once the police had left and managed to steal £12,000 worth of scrap metal.

Mr Jaiswal said: “A group of six guys broke the cladding, CCTV cameras and all the alarms.

“The guys were hiding somewhere. As the CCTV had been broken they came back again after we left and stole copper and brass materials.

“This was between 1.30am and 3am on Friday.”

Mr Jaiswal will also have to cover the damage to the security system which will set him back another £1,500.

He contacted police again but has been told there is not enough evidence to continue with the case at this time.

Mr Jaiswal said: “I want people to be aware and share any information they have as this could happen to anyone.”

CCTV footage from the burglary shows one person wearing a hooded coat standing next to a dome-shaped building while three others climb up on top of the building.

Another two people then emerge at ground level.

An outbuilding in Easthorpe Green was also targeted over the weekend.

The property owner, who asked to remain anonymous, said: “It was at about 12.30am.

“They came in via the back gate from the farm fields in Easthorpe.

“They entered via a private track that comes off Easthorpe Road.

“They were disturbed but appeared to be interested in farm machinery.”

The latest spate of thefts came as new figures revealed rural crime cost Essex £2.2 million last year.

The data came from the NFU Mutual’s annual rural crime report.

It showed the county ranked in as the third worst affected county in the UK.

An Essex Police spokesman said: “We were called on the morning of August 2 with reports metal had been taken overnight from A K Metals.

“Anyone with information is asked to call 101 quoting crime reference 42/123153/19.

“We were called at around 12.40am on August 4, with reports of a burglary at an address in Easthorpe Green, Marks Tey.

“We received information suspects damaged a gate before carrying out a messy search in shed before leaving empty handed.

“Anyone with information is asked to call 101 quoting crime reference 42/124720/19.”