Alleged Gungahlin burglars break-in to 19 shops in Casey Market Town, Nicholls, Palmerston, Gold Creek, Crace shops, including Subway

ACT police said there were nine alleged break-ins at Casey Market Town, three in Nicholls, three in Palmerston, two in Gold Creek and two at Crace shops in the early hours of Monday morning.

Many businesses told The Canberra Times they did not keep cash or valuables inside their shops at night, and nothing of significance was stolen.

However, many were closed and boarded up on the public holiday, having had glass smashed across their shop floors in the early hours of the morning.

Police arrested two teenage boys in Giralang about 6am on Monday, and charged them in relation to some of the burglaries and say they expect to lay more charges. Two vehicles they believe were use were also recovered, one in Kaleen and one in Giralang.

A 15-year-old boy and a 16-year-old boy are expected to face ACT Children's Court on Tuesday. The teenagers have both been charged with joint commission going equipped for theft, two counts of joint commission burglary, intent to commit theft. The 15-year-old boy has also been charged with a breach of bail offence.

Investigations into the burglaries are ongoing and police say further charges against the pair and others are expected.

At the Subway in Casey, two trays of biscuits were stolen.

Subway employee Lily, who asked her surname not be used, said the shop reopened about 4pm on Monday - but first she made a big batch of cookies for customers, piled high on a single tray.

"The police gave us one tray back, only one tray, but we lost one [silver] tray," she said.

In an attack that occurred about 4am on Monday, windows were smashed and coins taken from the tip jar at Hot Wok.

Domino's in Casey said it lost two keys, used for opening the bathroom handwashing and paper towel dispensers.

Owner of The District in Crace, Gerard Sanfrancesco, said the empty till was found in front of a window, covered in small, sharp shards of glass.

He said the damage to the window would cost around $1000, and between 12 to 16 bottles of alcohol valued at around $50 each were stolen.

"It's just annoying, that's all it is, really ... You just feel violated that somebody's breaking in," he said.

"It hasn't impacted business at all. But it just feels so uncomfortable that people break in at 3.30 in the morning.

"The police are doing a great job. They can only do so much ... there's not really much anybody can really do."

The District and other businesses in Crace have been broken into throughout the year, Mr Sanfrancesco said.

Sukhman Chahal from Domino's Casey said the break-in had impacted his business.

"We meant to open at 12pm, it was one of the public holidays. We cannot wait until 3.30 or 4pm or something and then you can see that it's not looking good for our customers," he said, pointing to the boarded-up window in the shopfront.

Vanessa Ryan from Value Glass was called in to clean up the mess in Casey following the break-ins.

She said there was little the shopkeepers could do to prevent them, considering they had the "toughest" double-glazed glass.

"That's why there's so much mess, but it is one of the toughest materials that anyone could use to put in a window. So they've done everything that they could to try and prevent it," she said.

"If someone really wants to break glass, they can."

Ms Ryan said robberies were common around the summer period.

"It always happens this time ... I'm assuming it's because Christmas is tight, and also because a lot of people leave Canberra for the holidays," she said.

Zambrero and Punjab Grocery were two of few shops on the Kingsland Parade side of Casey Market Town which weren't robbed.

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Manager of Punjab Grocery, R K Dumar, said his shop had been broken into early 2022.

"Our whole till system, there was a MacBook and then two iPads [and] $1000 in the till,' he said.

Mr Dumar said a break-in impacted shopkeepers for a long time, and wanted to see an increased police presence.

"Once they broke the glass or take the system it will take at least [seven] days to fix up," he said.

"If they will increase the patrolling I think that's the best option."

Police said that anyone with information about the incidents, or who may have seen any suspicious activity at shopping centres in the Gungahlin region between midnight and 4am on Monday, is urged to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000, or on the Crime Stoppers ACT website and quote reference 7313449.

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