RAM RAIDERS have stolen a cash machine in an early morning attack on a roadside cafe.Police are appealing for witnesses to the raid which took place at the Little Chef on the A14 at Newmarket in the early hours of yesterday morning.

RAM RAIDERS have stolen a cash machine in an early morning attack on a roadside cafe.

Police are appealing for witnesses to the raid which took place at the Little Chef on the A14 at Newmarket in the early hours of yesterday morning.

Police were called to the scene at around 2.15am by a Little Chef staff member who had been alerted that the alarm had been set off. They found the doors had been smashed open and part of a cash machine was missing.

A spokesman for Suffolk police said it believed that a 4x4 or high backed vehicle was used to remove the front doors and the raiders then stole the cash box from an ATM machine.

It is not known at this stage how much money was contained in the box, but police believe someone may have seen the vehicle, which may have been damaged in the raid, as it escaped from the scene.

Investigating officer Detective Sergeant Helen Stirges said: “The A14 is a busy road and carries traffic 24 hours a day.

“It is highly likely that other vehicles were in the area at the time and we need anyone who saw anything at all unusual at this site in the early hours of the morning to contact us.”

A police spokesman said at this stage the raid was not being linked with a string of similar incidents which have taken place across the region in recent months.

Three weeks ago the Co-op in Claydon was hit by a similar attack, along with two other premises in Dedham and Weeley in Essex. In April and March two premises in Norfolk and one other in Suffolk also suffered similar attacks.

On each occasion thieves had used stolen vehicles to ram their way into shops to gain access to cash machines and on a number of occasions balaclava-clad raiders were seen guarding the scene using baseball bats.

At the time police said they were linking all of these incidents because of a number of similarities between each offence.

In the latest incident, because of the Little Chef's location on the eastbound carriageway, police say the raiders will have been heading east as they made their getaway.

Anyone who has any information relating to the incident is asked to contact Newmarket CID on 01473 613500 or Crimestoppers on 0800 555111.