By Hayley Robinson

Bosses at a veterinary surgery smashed up during a night time raid fear it was targeted by drug addicts.

Consultation rooms were ransacked and tills ripped out from the reception desk after thieves broke into the Borden Lane Veterinary Surgery by smashing a window near the front door.

The raid was discovered by the receptionist when she arrived to open the surgery at 7.45am on Tuesday morning .

At the time of going to press it was unclear exactly what had been taken from the Borden Lane-based surgery as forensic officers were still combing the premises for clues.

It is estimated that approximately £2,000 worth of damage was caused to the surgery.

Head veterinary nurse Laura Wellard said: “We’ve a strong suspicion it’s drug related. Not many people would break into a veterinary surgery for money.

“The alarm in the reception area was smashed off the wall and the tills were ripped off the desk - luckily there was no money in them as we always clear the till at the end of the day.

“They’ve been in all the rooms and pulled things out of the cupboards, a visit bag [which is taken to call-outs] has been emptied and filled with god knows what - possibly syringes but we don’t know for sure yet.

“Luckily the stronger medications that people are normally after are locked up.

“We had between 20 to 30 animals booked in [for Tuesday morning] but we couldn’t get to the computer to ring people and let them know what had happened so they still turned up. Some people were understanding about it.

“Because we couldn’t go into the building we were transferring the animals to Fern Cottage Veterinary Surgery in Park Road which we’re very grateful to them for.”

Anyone with information is asked to contact Kent Police on 01795 419182.