Thieves who sparked a dead of night fire alarm at a Heathfield store as they broke into a cash machine have left detectives few clues to go on.

The incident happened at the Spar shop, Battle Road, early on Sunday.

Between 1.30am and 2.13am neighbours heard noises from within the convenience store and alerted police.

Officers who arrived to investigate found smoke billowing around inside and immediately called in firefighters from nearby Bovey Tracey.

A second crew was also dispatched bringing with them breathing apparatus, a ventilation fan and thermal imaging camera.

Once police were able to assess the situation they found an internal Link cash machine had been attacked using what appears to have been an industrial angle grinder or something similar.

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