Burglars in a box

Canadian police have caught two men and a woman who used an ordinary cardboard box to break into more than 200 fast-food outlets in the Toronto area.

The trio arrived at each target with an oversized cardboard box, which they propped up against the restaurant's front door.

One person hid in the box and used specialised tools to break into the restaurant, while the others stood guard with a police scanner and two-way radios.

"They were able to, by experience, literally remove the glass from the pane of the door and then set the glass aside," said Detective Sergeant Reuben Strober of Toronto Police.

He said the burglars managed to disable most of the alarm systems at the same time.

Even if the alarms were triggered, the suspects got away before police arrived.

Over the course of their crime spree, they made off with about $280,000.

Det Sgt Strobel said the three were finally caught after police responded to an unrelated call in the neighbourhood.

They face 355 charges.