A CRIME gang used high-tech equipment to beat the security systems of supermarkets in York and North Yorkshire as part of a nationwide burglary conspiracy.

A two-year North Yorkshire Police operation uncovered how seven men used hidden cameras to find out the codes of shop alarms.

Leeds Crown Court heard how the men broke into some stores and hid cameras in the ceiling. They then used remote equipment to watch staff entering security numbers.

Armed with balaclavas and tools, they would return in the early hours, force their way inside and turn off the alarm before stealing cigarettes and cash. Judge Ian Dobkin yesterday sentenced the Sunderland gang to a total of ten years in prison for the "cunning" and "persistent" string of burglaries.

Detective Inspector Dai Malyn, who led the inquiry, said: "They're the most organised and sophisticated team of burglars I've investigated."

He said that although he was pleased with the result of a "thorough" investigation, he was "surprised" by the sentences the men received.

The court heard that the men were involved in 18 burglaries at out-of-town shops in nine counties between June 1998 and April 2003.

Prosecutor Andrew Dallas said the men made off with goods worth tens of thousands of pounds and went to "extraordinary lengths" to find out the codes. He said members of the gang used the manager's code to turn off an alarm at Safeway in Haxby, York, in January 2000, after breaking in through the roof.

They fled empty-handed after being disturbed, and police found a digital camera, torches, gloves and binoculars.

Mr Dallas said they returned to Haxby in February 2002 and cigarettes worth almost £8,000 were stolen from the Co-op after a front door was smashed open.

A van with false number plates seen nearby, and later seized by police, was destroyed during a suspicious fire at a secure compound before it could be examined.

Mr Dallas said the men broke into another Co-op, in Kirkbymoorside, in July 2002, and stole property worth thousands of pounds from Boots, in Pickering, in October 2002.

Terence Walker, 39, Michael Sim, 43, Tony Hall, 37, Brian Ganley, 38, David Hawkes, 44, John Campbell, 36, and Lee Metcalfe, 29, all of Sunderland, admitted conspiracy to commit burglary.

Campbell was jailed for two-and-half years, Metcalfe, Hawkes and Hall for 21 months, and Walker for two years.

Ganley received a suspended nine-month jail term and Sim was given a six-month curfew order with tagging.

Updated: 09:25 Saturday, June 26, 2004