Burglars embarked on a crime spree in Washington Mall in the early hours of Sunday, smashing their way into seven stores and stealing an estimated $1,000.

One angry store owner called for an alarm system to be fitted at the Reid Street, Hamilton venue in the light of this and a spate of previous break-ins.

The man ? who did not wish for his name to be printed ? said the criminals got into the store by breaking a glass panel in a door between Windsor Place and Washington Mall. They then smashed their way into the stores through glass panels before grabbing money from the cash registers.

?This was not just a break-in, it was a crime spree. There was glass everywhere from small shards to chunks of plate glass,? he said.

The shops hit on the lower floor were Matchbox, Sports Source, The Edge and The Mall Studio. Upstairs, Magic Moments, Sound Stage and Jazzy were targeted. The owner said some stores had lost hundreds of dollars each and estimated the full amount stolen as being close to $1,000.

There have been at least three break-ins at Washington Mall in the last two years, he said, expressing concern that ?useless? digital security cameras inside had not been able to pick up clear images of the perpetrators on previous occasions.

He also claimed that managers of the venue have told him in the past that a CCTV camera mounted on the Mechanics Building on Church Street ? which should monitor the area where the latest break-in occurred ? does not work.

?The store owners are all fed up. The Mall is not alarmed and they (the thieves) know exactly where the cash register is and how to open it. It keeps getting broken into but the management downplay it,? he said.

?Being a tenant we signed a lease that says we pay a portion of the rent and management fees towards security, but there?s none. The mall should have an alarm system monitored by a central station and locked metal gates. The metal gate when you walk in from Church Street isn?t locked. We also need awareness given to the management and we are thinking of joining together and having a tenants? association,? he added.

The shopkeeper believes the same culprit may be responsible for this and previous incidents due to a comment from the Police about a similar mode of operation. He does not know if the culprit was caught on camera, but says the Police told him they know who it is.

A Police spokesman said yesterday that officers had attended the report of the burglary at 7.25 a.m. on Sunday and had been told by a mall security officer that it had occurred around 5 a.m that day. Inquiries were said to be underway.

Mall General Manager Paul Slaughter declined to comment on the incident because of the ongoing investigation. He confirmed that the mall was due to open as usual this morning.