A GANG of thieves brazenly walked into a corner shop and ripped the safe from a wall, then dragged it outside to their getaway car.

The gang, thought to be Eastern European, included five women and two men.

The wall-mounted safe, which was locked, contained £5,000, chequebooks, credit cards, driving licences and passports.

Police are appealing for witnesses to the burglary, which happened in Darlington at 4.15pm on Friday.

The gang walked into Lally's newsagents, in Yarm Road, and the women, who all wore long shawls, started distracting shop owner Balvir Lally.

They picked up products, asked questions and even bought items.

Meanwhile, the men walked into the shop's back room, ripping the safe from its wall mount and dragged it along the floor.

Although they were hidden from Mr Lally's view by high shelves, the incident was captured on security camera, which police are studying.

Once at the door, they picked up the safe, carried it to a silver estate car, got in and drove off towards the town centre.

The safe was found dumped in Croft, North Yorkshire, on Saturday, with only the chequebooks left in it.

Police said the same gang had earlier tried to burgle the B&G store, in Haughton Road, in the town.

Narinder Lally, who has run the shop with her husband for nearly three years, said: "We have had nothing like this before. They were not nervous at all. They did not even see the cameras.

"We are really, really annoyed. To do it in daylight is unbelievable."

Police described the two men as of Eastern European appearance, 5ft 10in, aged 30 to 35, with short dark hair.

One was stocky and wore a pale blue zipped hooded top, with white trousers.

The other was of medium build, and wore a white jacket and blue jeans.

The women were also described as Eastern European, aged 20 to 50.

Anyone with any information is asked to call Detective Constable Jim Honeyman on 0845-60-60-365, or Crimestoppers, in confidence, on 0800-555-111.