by Stephen Waite

Police are hunting a gang of four men who stole 19 mobile phones from a Sittingbourne shop.

The thieves grabbed handfuls of handsets from O2 in the High Street at about 3.30pm on Sunday, February 19.

It is reported staff and shoppers in the shop were told: "Don't move" while the gang quickly ripped the mobiles from stands.

A police spokesman said there would have been a number of witnesses: "They were in the shop a matter of seconds. The phones were all alarmed so would have attracted a lot of attention.

"There were two white men, one black and one of mixed race. The black man was wearing a distinctive white Beanie hat.

"They were all in their mid to late 20s and about 6ft."

Ten police officers were sent to the shop, which is on the corner of the High Street entrance to The Forum.

They arrived within minutes of the theft and carried out a search of the area but the suspects were not found.

The case has been taken on by Swale's Reactive Investigation team of officers, who have been liaising with train company Southeastern to see if the theft coincided with the departure of a train.

The team's Detective Sergeant Paul Fewtrell said: "The store's alarm systems sounded during the incident and I'm hopeful that the attention of other shoppers in the High Street would have been drawn to the store as a result.

"I would appeal to anyone who was in the area at the time and who saw anything suspicious to contact us, or to call Kent Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555111."

O2 declined to comment.

Anyone with information is asked to contact DS Fewtrell Sittingbourne CID on 101, quoting crime reference XY/5262/12.