A THIEF walked into an electrical goods warehouse and helped himself to more than half-a-million pounds worth of mobile phones.

The burglary took place at the Exertis UK Ltd premises in Shorten Brook Way, Altham.

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Police said a man wearing a high-visibility tabard entered the warehouse and loaded up a vehicle left outside with several pallets stacked with packages containing more than a 1,000 mobile phones between 6.20am and 6.55am on Wednesday.

It is the second time this year that Exertis has been targeted in a high-value theft.

In February, three masked thieves broke into the distribution centre and stole £250,000 of handsets.

On that occasion a total of 170 iPhone 6s and 380 Samsung Galaxy S5 Neo phones were stolen.

The men left when they were challenged by security guards, but fled with the phones.

Speaking about this week’s burglary, a police spokesman said: “We know it is more than half-a-million pounds worth of mobile phones that were taken during the burglary in Altham.

“They were Samsung and Sony models.

“The suspect parked a van outside the distribution centre before making his way into the warehouse and loading the van with the pallets.”

On its website, Exertis describes itself as ‘one of Europe’s largest and fastest growing technology distribution and specialist service providers’.

It has centres in Altham, Basingstoke, Elland, Harlow and Stoke.

Representatives from Exertis declined to comment on this week’s theft.

Police said anyone with information about the theft or the whereabouts of the stolen phones should contact them on 101 quoting reference 312 of Wednesday, December 21, or visit www.crimestoppers-uk.org.