Camera catches thieves taking $1500 worth of fuel from Cary gas station amid record prices

The incident happened at the Quality Mart, a Shell station near the intersection of Ten Ten Road and Kildaire Farm Road.

Several surveillance videos show the act. One video shows a truck and a trailer pull up to the underground tank. The station owner believes that was the vehicle that had the equipment needed to steal 292 gallons of gas.

When the station closed Saturday night, it had 4,862 gallons of premium gas in the underground storage tank. When the doors opened Sunday morning, that total was down to 4,570.

"They knew everything," said owner Yogi Manocha. "They're professionals. They had a trailer, they had pumps, pipes."

Manocha scoured his security camera footage and saw a green SUV towing a utility van and a silver minivan in his parking lot early that morning.

It's believed one person took hoses and siphoned the gas from underground. A receipt from the station shows that a 'sudden loss alarm' for its fuel supply was triggered on Sunday between 6 and 7 a.m.

The owner is hoping that someone will see these vehicles in the video and come forward to authorities.

Manocha said it took them about two hours to pull off the heist. He's disappointed someone would commit the act against a small business owner.

"Everybody is really surprised to know that this has happened," Manocha said. "Nobody has ever had this before, or maybe it's happening, but nobody noticed it."

Cary police are investigating. Police told WRAL they have no similar reports of gas theft in the area, but they are aware of similar cases around the country.

Manocha is urging local gas station owners to carefully monitor their supply for theft.