A cross-county police search was continuing today for a gang of thieves who launched a Mission Impossible-style raid on a York industrial estate.

As revealed by The Press yesterday, four raiders cut telephone lines to knock out burglar alarms at The Plumb Center in James Street - then waited until the building had been checked by unsuspecting staff before stealing several tonnes of copper fixtures and piping.

The cheeky criminals even used one of the firm's own lorries as a getaway vehicle, before later abandoning it in the West Yorkshire town of Castleford.

The raid happened in the early hours of Sunday morning, and although the exact value of the stolen stock has yet to be calculated, police have described it as a "substantial" haul.

Police from both the North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire forces are now trying to track down the thieves, who were caught on the store's CCTV footage lifting a British Telecom manhole in the car park and later driving away with their loot at around 5.15am after an untidy search of the premises, which may have taken them several hours. This was a highly-organised burglary carried out by a team of criminals who knew exactly what they were doing," said PC Richard Farrar, of the York Safer Neighbourhood Response Team.

"I'm hopeful people will come forward if they remember seeing any suspicious activity in the area at the time."

Police also want to hear from anybody who believes they may have seen the thieves arriving at the scene and possibly parking in a nearby street, or who has been offered a large quantity of scrap copper - which fetches prices of around £3,600 a tonne - for sale.

Anybody with any information about the raid should phone York Police on 0845 6060247 and leave a message for PC Farrar, or contact Crimestoppers on 0800 555111.