POLICE are investigating after luxury cars worth £50,000 were stolen in a “targeted” raid in Romsey.

The three high-value vehicles were taken during a late-night burglary at Romsey Car Centre over the bank holiday weekend.

Owner Steve Carlile was devastated after he returned following the bank holiday to find that a Mercedes, an Audi and a Jaguar had all been driven away.

He said CCTV footage showed two people waiting outside for an hour before making their move, removing a window before finding keys, taking the cars, and then replacing the window on the way back out again.

He said: “I’m not a very happy chap at the moment. I do think it’s a targeted burglary.

“It’s a very good job, quite professional. They obviously knew about alarms and it’s probably something they do all the time.

“They removed a pane of glass from the window to get in and put the glass back in behind them, and cut open a lock and put the lock back in.

“I’m just having a brand new alarm fitted now. We’ve put out a report so if anybody tries to trade them we will know about it.”

The vehicles taken were a black Jaguar XF worth £16,000, a grey Mercedes C Class estate worth £13,000, and a blue estate Audi A4 worth £18,000.

The Jaguar’s registration plate is BV12 NNL, while the Mercedes’ registration is GJ61 UHC and the Audi’s is HJ12 OXC.

A number of cars were stolen from the dealership about a decade ago but were returned after police tracked them down in Dorset.

Hampshire Constabulary confirmed it is investigating the incident and PC Mark Brown said: “This is a rare incident and we are following up a number of enquiries.

“We would be keen to hear from anyone who may have been offered these cars for sale or seen them on any buying/selling websites.”

Mr Carlile, who has run the Budds Lane Industrial Estate based-business for 20 years, admits he is more concerned about the vehicles than the thieves.

“The only thing I’m interested in is the cars - I just want them back”, he said.

To tighten security, the centre is installing a new CCTV and alarm system which automatically sends notifications to the police and Mr Carlile if triggered.

Anyone with information on the raid is asked to call PC Brown on 101 and quote crime reference number 44150176023.