Police attend the Bernoth Centre after it was thought people were trying to break-in through the roof. It is the third time in seven days the centre has been robbed.

Kevin Farmer

TOOWOOMBA businesses and homes were again hit by vandals and thieves overnight yesterday as a surge of crime continues unabated.

Vandals hit the Bernoth Centre in Ruthven Street as ongoing senseless destruction continued.

The centre was struck for a third time in seven days.

A decorative garden ornament was used to smash into the Furniture Patch and the Baby Shack, according to the centre's owner Barry Bernoth..

Mr Bernoth received news of the current crime plague on his business centre yesterday while currently out of town supervising some property development at the Gold Coast.

He described the attacks as the work of “mischief makers” adding that the “good people” at the centre were at their wits' end.

“When you've got people breaking into a women's fitness centre and a baby store, it makes you wonder what the purpose is.”

Break and enters were also reported at four residences in Centenary Heights, Kearneys Spring, Rangeville and Newtown where valuables were stolen after offenders smashed windows to gain entry.

A swell of public support gathered yesterday for a specifically formed police taskforce codenamed Operation Senator aimed at catching the culprits responsible for a series of more sophisticated recent business break-ins.

“Our information at this stage is very limited.”

The city's detectives are urging those responsible to come forward before they are named either by regretful accomplices or incentives of potential rewards.

“We would encourage even the offenders who may be willing to dob on an accomplice to call Crime Stoppers which sometimes offers financial rewards,” Toowoomba Police Criminal Investigation Branch officer-in-charge Mark Andrews said.

Information can be phoned to the CIB on 4631 6344 or Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000