TWO men seen wheeling a pair of safes containing �6,500 along a pavement at 4am are today awaiting sentencing for burglary.

One of the thieves, Goran Karim, of Broomwade Close, Ipswich, told police he was so drunk he could not remember stealing the safes from a fruit and veg shop in the town.

However, Ipswich Crown Court heard that just eight months before the theft the 21-year-old had been given a community order for another break-in at a greengrocers in the town centre.

Karim pleaded guilty to the most recent burglary at the same court after a jury was sworn in, but before the beginning of his trial. His co-accused Soran Mohammed, 28, of Planet Street, Cardiff, also admitted burglary, but before the jury took the oath.

The pair broke into the Alamin Halal grocery story in St Helen’s Street on December 2 last year.

Police were called after a member of the public reported seeing three people wheeling two safes in Jefferies Road.

Apart from cash, the safes contained various correspondence and paperwork.

Karim and Mohammed got as far as putting the safes in a vehicle – which had been hired in London – before being interrupted by police officers in the Palmerston Road area.

They were arrested after trying to run away.

A third suspect, a 26-year-old man, was arrested around 25 minutes later in Palmerston Court. However, he was not charged.

Subsequent inquiries led to police discovering that a secure compound had been entered through a metal gate at the rear of the Alamin Halal grocers. A window had been smashed, allowing the thieves to gain entry to the property.

Judge Peter Fenn told the court Karim had previously been sentenced at Ipswich Crown Court on March 23 last year after being convicted of burglary and theft.

On that occasion he was given a community order with a 180-hour unpaid work requirement.

However, he breached the order in September and it was amended to make it more onerous, by adding a three-month curfew.

Karim and Mohammed had their sentences deferred for reports to be compiled.

They are due to be sentenced sometime in the three weeks commencing November 26.