POLICE are searching for a woman who used a trick to steal cigarettes from supermarkets around west Wiltshire.

The woman targeted the Tesco superstore, County Way, Trowbridge, at 3pm on December 16. Just 45 minutes later she committed a similar offence in Safeway, Weymouth Street, Warminster.

She went into both shops carrying a rucksack, approached the cigarette counter and asked for 400 Benson & Hedges cigarettes.

When the shop assistant placed the cigarettes on the counter and asked for the money, the thief handed over some cash and put the cigarettes in her bag.

On both occasions the shop assistant then discovered she had not been given enough money, but the offender said she had no more cash.

She handed the packets back and the shop assistant returned her money. It was only after she had left the shop that the shop assistants discovered they had been given different cigarette boxes, containing paper and resealed to make them look like the real thing.

The total value of the cigarettes stolen from the two supermarkets was £190.

The woman is white, in her mid-20s, slim with brown, slightly frizzy hair tied back with a scrunchy.

She was wearing a pink t-shirt, a dark hooded top with white cords and blue stone washed jeans.

She is also suspected of committing a similar offence in Shepton Mallet.