TWO garages and two supermarkets have been left counting the cost after the latest in a string of raids by gangs of cigarette thieves.

Police arrested two men near Avebury after break-ins at Somerfield in Wootton Bassett and Calne Service Station early on Sunday morning. But 30 minutes later Malmesbury Specialist Cars was hit.

It is the third time in a month that the car company has been the target of cigarette thieves. Sunday's raid on Somerfield, at 2.57am, was its third in six weeks. But this time the thieves left empty handed after failing to break into its new cigarette kiosk.

Twenty minutes later, the Calne Service Station was broken into, and £200 worth of cigarettes stolen. Police arrested two men in connection with both thefts at 3.55am near Avebury.

There has been a spate of raids in Malmesbury, Wootton Bassett, Calne and Lyneham on cigarette outlets.