Hundreds of Jellycats worth up to £20,000 were stolen in a ram raid on a toy shop amid a collectors craze for them.
The early morning burglary was all caught on CCTV.
A masked man and woman were shown peering into the windows about 20 minutes before.
A van was then used to smash open the shop.
Footage shows it repeatedly ramming the door using a wooden post as a battering ram.
The pair are then seen stuffing hundreds of the toys from shelves into large bags.
Police launched an investigation and are trying to locate the silver Renault Twingo involved in the raid which happened in Cheddar, Somerset around 4.40am on Sunday (30 Mar).
Hundreds of Jellycats and some Charlie Bears soft toys were snatched.
The British brand Jellycat has boomed over the last year with collectors splashing out for the toys which sell for between £12 and £200.
They come in an array of designs from food and drinks such as the ‘Sassy Sushi Egg’ and animals like the ‘Clunky Cockerel’.
But as demand has skyrocketed so has the numbers of ‘steal to sell shoplifters’, as reported by Need To Know.
Paul Pimlott, company secretary of The Gorge Bear Company which was targeted in the burglary was unfazed and vowed to carry on trading.
The shop located next to the world famous Cheddar Gorge and Caves has been there for over 25 years.
Mr Pimlott said: “We had over 300 soft toys stolen in the raid.
“We’ve been here since 1999 and nothing like this has happened before.
“But we’ve had lots of support from the community.
“And we will continue.
“We also own World of Bears in Taunton and have staff to look after.
“So as a local business we want to carry on contributing locally.”
He urged people to look out for items at car boot sales, on Vinted and on eBay.
The shop has been closed since the incident but is due to reopen on Thursday.
An Avon and Somerset police spokesperson added: “An investigation is underway into a burglary at a shop in Cheddar which happened in the early hours of Sunday 30 March.
“We were called at 4.42am to a report that a car had been used to force access to the property in Queens Row with a significant quantity of soft toys having been stolen.
“Officers were deployed within minutes of the call being made and a search of the area was carried out to try and locate the vehicle involved – a silver Renault Twingo.
“The investigation is continuing and anyone with any information or footage that could help our enquiries is asked to call 101 and give the call handler the reference number 5225090991.”
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