A man has been charged with burglary after a large amount of cash was stolen from the Guru Nanak temple in Gravesend.

The Siri Guru Nanak Darbar Gurdwara in Saddington Street was broken into between midnight and 2am on Friday.

Eleazar Allert, 26, of Walthamstow, London, has been charged with burglary and remanded to appear before Medway Magistrates' Court on Saturday.

He was remanded in custody to appear at Maidstone Crown Court on July 22.

A large amount of cash was said to have been stolen in the incident, including three charity boxes which had been donated into for more than a week and were due to be banked within the following few days.

At around 2.10am police stopped a vehicle in Germander Avenue, Halling.

Police are continuing to search for two further suspects who reportedly made off from the vehicle.

Tarsem Singh Mahil, general secretary of the Gravesend Gurdwara said: “It was a great shock to us all. Somebody must have known where the money is all kept to do this, but we do no believe it was anything to do with race.

“Three charity money boxes were broken into, the treasury office was broken into and the safe and some cash taken. We don’t know exactly how much money was taken at this stage, but it would have been quite a lot.”

The kitchen window on the ground floor was smashed in and police have CCTV from the Gurdwara which they are using to help with their inquiries.

On the temple’s Facebook page, a statement was issued saying: “We regret to inform you that in the early hours of this morning June 24 there was a break in at our Guru Ghar which resulted in money being taken from the gholaks.

“The Gurdwara Management Committee is working closely with Kent Police.”

The incident is not being linked to an act of criminal damage to a disused temple in Clarence Place, Gravesend, that was reported to police yesterday.

Six people have been arrested in connection with that incident and inquiries are on-going.