Two people who stole £11,000 in minutes from two Gravesend businesses remain at large.

The raiders broke into Pizza GoGo and Sultan Sofrasi, both in New Road, Gravesend, on June 7 with a crowbar and a pickaxe.

Pizza GoGo franchise owner Ali Mushtaq, 32, discovered the safe containing about £8,000 had been wrenched out and taken.

His neighbour, Mehmet Celik, owner of the Turkish restaurant, found his iPad, jars of staff tips totalling £400 and £2,500 were gone.

Footage at Pizza GoGo shows two people smashing a door window at 1.53am. They head for the safe and attempt to pull it free before returning with a huge pickaxe to wrench it out. They also took a till.

Police were criticised by the owners for having a slow response, with the officer assigned to the case being away on rest. A force spokesman said: “Forensics officers attended the scene of both burglaries and the case was assigned to an officer to investigate on the day the incidents were reported.

“While every effort is made to provide regular updates to victims, it is not always possible to do so within a short amount of time if, for example, when the investigating officer is on an unsociable shift pattern.

“Most reported crimes including burglaries are allocated to a single point of contact to ensure investigations are carried out in a clear and efficient manner, and to avoid any confusion that could potentially arise by having multiple officers dealing with the same incident.

“A full investigation into both burglaries is currently ongoing and a number of lines of inquiry including forensic evidence and CCTV are being explored.

“Kent Police is dedicated to providing a visible presence across Gravesend and will continue to use innovative tools such as Predictive Policing to help tackle and prevent crime.”