Businessman Paul Hemingway is offering a £10,000 reward to catch a gang who smashed their way into his Bradford mill warehouse with sledgehammers, getting away with £150,000 of aquarium products.

The raiders targeted Aquarline’s six-storey premises off Barkerend roundabout at the weekend.

Mr Hemingway locked up and set the alarms at the building on Friday night.

An employee turning up for work yesterday discovered security roller shutters at the front and back of the mill smashed in.

“It certainly wasn’t a man in a van job,” said Mr Hemingway. “There was enough stock taken to fill a 17-ton truck. Whoever did it knew exactly what they were wanting and there must have been a few of them.

“They left stuff on the first three floors and went for the higher-value stock on the top storeys. To shift it out quicker they made a slide down the lower flights of stairs with shelving units.”

The bulk of products were marked with Aquarline brand name, said Mr Hemingway, who has run the import business from the mill for the past 13 years.

Mr Hemingway will hand over the reward to anyone who gives police enough information to lead to arrests and prosecution of the offenders.Call Bradford South CID on 0845 6060606 or Crimestoppers in confidence on 0800 555 111.

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