MASKED raiders disabled CCTV cameras and cut telephone lines before escaping with cash and bikes worth thousands from a Forest tourist attraction.
Pedalabikeaway was targeted late on Saturday night and early on Sunday by criminals who used a wheelbarrow and wheelie bins to steal a safe full of takings, shop stock, a cash till and half a dozen bikes.
"It looked like a 'professional' job," said mechanic Tom Abrahams. "They stole ladders from a house over the road so they could get up and spray the CCTV cameras outside, at about 10pm.
"Then they came back and the telephone line was cut."
The safe was found at around 8am on Sunday. It was empty on the nearby cycle track to Cannop Ponds, along with parts of one bike.
Some bikes taken were hire bikes, while others were customers' machines.
Pedalabikeaway attracts thousands of cyclists, from leisure riders to downhillers, to the Forest of Dean, and was open for business on Sunday.
Hire bikes taken were Trek hardtail 4700 models, while two customers' bikes stolen included a Santa Cruz. Front forks, worth £1,500 belonging to an employee, were taken too.
Bikes in the car park at the centre have been targeted by thieves before. But this is believed to be the first time the building has been broken into.
Although CCTV outside was sprayed at around 10am, the burglars may be identified by CCTV footage inside the building later on during the night.
Police are believed to be studying that footage, as well as forensic samples taken at the scene.
The value of the bikes, safe takings, till float, and damage to the CCTV is estimated at £4,000 to £5,000.
Last week, police said expensive mountain bikes were stolen at a rate of more than one a month in the Forest, after a £3,000 Orange Five was taken from Longhope the weekend before last.
Anyone who saw anything suspicious on Saturday night or Sunday morning should call police on 101, quoting crime reference 106/28/4.