POLICE officers drove past a gang breaking through the wall of a cafe not once but twice.

Sussex Police admitted one of their vehicles passed Graces Place cafe on Madeira Drive twice during the time a gang of burglars was smashing its way through the wall and stealing a safe.

The police car was responding to a noise at another location on the same road at 12.23am but found there was nothing there – a minor collision was thought to be the source of the noise.

Police initially appealed for witnesses to the heist saying that smashing two holes in the cafe using sledge hammers would have made “significant noise”, yet passing officers did not notice.

A spokesman for the force said: “CCTV shows that around the time the burglary was taking place, a police vehicle did pass by the area on two occasions” but added “there is no indication the offending van was seen at the time” by the officers.

Later that night officers found the van –- but lost track of the burglars and it then took Sussex Police until yesterday to realise that they had recovered the safe containing £45,000 in cash.

The criminals left the seafront at 12.45am and at shortly before 2am, a marked police car saw a van activate a speed camera on the A270 Lewes Road heading out of Brighton and began following it.

The stolen van, failed to stop and sped off, at times travelling on the wrong side of the road and running red traffic lights.

Officers lost sight of it but at 2.11am it was found abandoned in Middleton Rise, Coldean.

The van was recovered to a police pound for routine forensic tests, having not been linked to the burglary at Graces Place cafe.

However, when officers later viewed CCTV footage of the raid, they realised it was the same van used in the theft.

Detective Inspector Clare Shiel, of Brighton CID, said: “We’re pleased the burglars failed to get away with the stolen property, but our investigation continues and we now need to identify and arrest them.

“Anyone who saw this white Ford Transit being driven in a dangerous manner along the A27 out of Brighton in the early hours of Monday morning, or who may have seen it being dumped in Coldean is asked to contact us without delay.

“We would also still like to hear from anyone who noticed anything suspicious around the scene of the burglary in Madeira Drive.”

Anyone with information is asked to email 101@sussex.pnn.police.uk or phone 101, quoting serial 158 of August 17.