THOUSANDS of pounds worth of cigarettes could be sold on the black market after five raids on newsagents in just a week.

Burglars broke into Martins newsagents, in Felmores End, Pitsea, overnight on Tuesday, April 26 and in the early hours of yesterday morning/

A second convenience store- McColls, in the Triangle shops, in Langdon Hills - was raided three times in three days.

Workers have arrived at the store every morning since Sunday to find that windows have been smashed, doors forced open and hundreds of pounds worth of cigarettes and cash missing.

In each burglary, the stores were broken into with a crowbar and large hauls of cigarette packets were taken.

Officers believe the same people are responsible for each burglary.

They want to find the cigarettes, which they believe are being sold on the streets illegally.

PC Marek Jaworski, from Basildon police, said: "At the break-in at Martins in Felmores End, a shop assistant turned up to work at 5.30am on April 26 to find that the store had been broken into.

"It is thought that a crowbar or a medal pipe was used to break into the metal shutters.

"A haul of cigarettes worth £1,900 was taken.

"During the raids at the Triangle shops, the alarms were activated each time. The burglars even attempted to open a safe without success.

"There has been such a large amount of cigarettes taken in a short space of time, these clearly aren't being used by one person.

"We think that the burglars are selling these cigarettes and they are now available on the streets of Basildon.

"We want to know of anyone who has been offered cigarettes for sale."

The McColls store opened less then six months ago, replacing a newsagents which was destroyed in a huge blaze in 2013.

Investigations into the burglaries are continuing and no arrests have been made.

Officers are now meeting with newsagents to help step up their security measures in the wake of the crime spate.

Martins and McColls both refused to comment when contacted by the Echo.

Anyone with information about the raids call officers at the Basildon community policing team on 101, or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555111.