The Shoalhaven Clay Target Club has again fallen victim to brazen and malicious thieves.
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Members arrived at the club complex, located at Turpentine Road Tomerong, on Sunday morning to find thousands of dollars worth of equipment stolen, the office and canteen ransacked, and the club house damaged.
Club president Rod Kinross said the date of the robbery was not known, however was sometime within the past two weeks.
“We meet on the second and fourth weekend of each month so there’s a two week window when it could have happened,” he said.
“Whoever it was really spent their time there, and it’s extremely disappointing for a small club like ours.”
Mr Kinross said thieves cut the locks on the club gates, before using power tools to gain access to the buildings and storage containers.
“They’ve used power tools and grinders to cut their way into our storage containers and they cut off one of the doors,” he said.
After gaining access, thieves stole batteries, chargers and remote controls worth more than $10,000, which has taken the club years to save up for. The office and kitchen were also ransacked and a television, food and drink and a cash tin were stolen.
“They’ve also taken things like shirts and jackets and some of our trophies as well,” Mr Kinross said.
“It’s very malicious and we are just so disappointed.”
However, this isn’t the first time the club has been broken into or vandalised.
The club was burnt down by vandals about five years ago, and prior to that most of the club’s equipment was stolen.
“It’s taken a lot for us to rebuild since then, and everyone in our club has worked really hard to get things back up and running” Mr Kinross said.
“For this to happen again is really disappointing,” Mr Kinross said.
Mr Kinross said the club was very “security conscious” due to prior break-ins, and fortunately security cameras had captured the thieves.
“Police were here [on Sunday] undertaking some forensic tests and our hidden security cameras have captured some images of the thieves,” he said.
“We can only hope that these thieves are caught.”
Mr Kinross has urged anyone with any information about the incident to contact Nowra Police Station at 4421 9699.