POLICE are hunting ram-raiders who targeted a Hampshire convenience store and made off with a large number of cigarettes.

A silver-coloured Ford Focus was driven through the double doors at the back of the McColl’s store at Lordshill District Centre in Southampton in the early hours of yesterday.

Police officers and forensic experts visited the store in the hope of finding vital evidence that could lead them to the culprits.

The shop, part of a parade next door to the Lordshill branch of Sainsbury’s, was open as normal yesterday but a handwritten note in the window said: “Sorry no tobacco products on sale”.

The two doors destroyed in the raid had been boarded up.

A police spokeswoman said: “We’re investigating a burglary that took place at McColl’s at around 3am on Tuesday. A silver-coloured Ford Focus was driven into the building to gain entry to the premises and a quantity of cigarettes were stolen. Investigations are ongoing.”

The spokeswoman was unable to provide any information on the value of the stolen property, the amount taken, or whether the burglary was being linked to similar raids in the Southampton area.

McColl’s staff declined to discuss the break-in and no one at the company’s head office was available for comment.

In February burglars smashed their way into the Co-op store in Foundry Lane, Southampton, and stole cigarettes from the shelves. They also made an unsuccessful attempt to take alcohol from the shop.

A few weeks later two Co-op shops in West End Road, Bitterne, and The Hundred, Romsey, were targeted on the same night.

Last month the Romsey branch was targeted again. Would-be thieves smashed their way into the building via the front door but are thought to have fled empty-handed.