Coffee machines worth £300,000 stolen from Birmingham warehouse

A company that supplies commercial coffee machines estimates equipment worth £300,000 has been stolen.

West Midlands Police said it was investigating a burglary at Fracino on Birch Road East in Birmingham.

Coffee machines and grinders were taken from the warehouse at about 04:30 BST on Wednesday.

Chairman Frank Maxwell said it would take months to "get out of this" and that the theft was "a real bad hit".

The warehouse stores equipment that is then shipped to South Africa, Canada, Singapore, Dubai, Australia and other countries.

The company found out about the stolen equipment when the first employee turned up for work on Wednesday morning.

"The initial feeling was panic," Mr Maxwell said.

He added it was the second time the company had been targeted and that the thieves "used the company's own forklift truck to take the equipment and then sprayed fire extinguisher everywhere when they left".

He said the theft was a "tragic loss" that left a situation that was "unstable for the employees".

Police said CCTV footage was being reviewed and forensics experts had attended the scene as inquiries continued.

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