Highly professional burglars broke into a warehouse in Surbiton and drove off with £261,000 worth of computer equipment.

The company, based at the Red Lion Business Centre in Fullers Way North, has filed a 132-page list of stolen goods, including laptops and desktop computers.

Police believe at least three burglars gained access to the premises after the cleaner had left.

They disabled the alarm system by cutting an electrical cable in a manhole and unlocked the front door using a screwdriver.

The door was propped open while the group made their way to the warehouse where they loaded the hardware on to a company van using a fork-lift truck.

The burglars had time

to raise the shutters, drive the van out, close the shutters, and cut the lock on the premises front gate and

drive off, without being disturbed.

Police believe the heist took place sometime between the evening of Friday, November 30, and the morning of Monday, December 3.

The burglars had erected a low-level platform to climb over a fence which separated the business park from a neighbouring housing estate.

CCTV covering the Red Lion business centre has been seized, and police are still searching for the stolen van, a Renault Master, registration number R522 KGP.

Investigators are appealing for information regarding the incident, and have asked people to beware of computer hardware being sold on the black market.

Investigating officer PC Gary Poole ruled out any possibility of an inside job.

He said: We are looking at all sorts of different channels at the moment.

We are also gathering intelligence on similar burglaries in and around London.

Its obvious that they are professional burglars and they have done something like this before. They knew what wires to cut and where to go.

If you have any information call PC Poole on 020 8541 1212 or Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.

By.Steven Shukor