Published Thursday, 16 August 2012
30 antique accordions were taken as well as a motor home and jewellery. (© PSNI)
Thirty accordions worth a considerable sum of money were stolen, some dating back to the 1950s.
The burglary took place at a property in Comber on Monday 6 August.
The owner had been visited two days previous by two men who said they wanted to buy an accordion for a relative.
They asked to meet the man in west Belfast the following Monday to discuss the deal further, but no one showed up to meet him.
When he returned to his home, he discovered that his motor home and all of his accordions had gone, along with assorted items of jewellery that have a great sentimental value.
Detectives are now making a wider appeal to the public for help as they believe the instruments could be anywhere and have released images of some of the valuable accordions to help aid their recovery.
The motor home is a white 6-berth, Fiat Ducato, registration number W91 PVM. Detectives believe there is the possibility that the motor home could have left Northern Ireland.
"These items are rare, and specialist. They are not the sort of thing you would normally see in a pawn shop or being offered for sale door to door or even on websites," a spokesperson for Newtownards CID said.
"You would not pay a couple of hundred pounds for an instrument like this and anyone who wanted one knows what they are looking for and knows a reputable seller.
"We would appeal to anyone who has information on the whereabouts of these instruments, or is offered something similar for sale in suspicious circumstances, to contact the Police Service of Northern Ireland on 0845 600 8000."