Police believe a £50,000 spate of thefts across Aberdeenshire in the past few days could be linked.
Four motorbikes, a quad bike and a car have been stolen from properties since the start of the week.
In Balmedie three motorbikes were taken between Sunday night and Monday morning, just days after an Ifor Williams trailer was taken from an industrial yard in the village’s North Beach Road.
A Suzuki motorbike and a BMW car were also stolen from Portlethen between Tuesday night and Wednesday morning, and an attempt was made to take a motorbike in the Netherley area between Monday night and Tuesday morning.
A Honda quad bike was also stolen from a property in the Alford area.
Yesterday sergeant Graeme Penny of the Garioch community policing team said: “There may well be a link.”
He added: “Even though there is quite a distance between them they may well be linked to each other.
“Sometimes you have surges over three or four days when things like this happen. There are positive lines of inquiry being followed.
“It is quite high value property we are talking about,” he said.
“Our advice as usual is to make sure all your doors are locked.
“There are opportunist thieves who will drive around in the middle of the night under cover of darkness looking for anything where security can be overcome easily.”
He also urged anyone who sees off-road motorbikes being driven around, particularly in the middle of the night, to report it to police.
Sgt Penny said it was too early in the investigation to determine if the crimes were linked to the theft of two quad bikes from Deeside Activity Park and a safe from Formartine United FC in Pitmedden earlier this month.
Anyone with information should call the police on 101.