Five properties broken into and vehicle stolen from Armidale, located in Guyra

The 73-year-old disturbed the intruder in his Dangar Street property about midnight on Wednesday. Two nearby houses on Brown and Kentucky streets were also broken into about the same time.

A car stolen from Brown Street in Armidale shortly afterwards was later located in Guyra where two other properties on Falconer Street were also broken into about 4am.

New England Detective Inspector Kingsley Chapman said he was confident those responsible could be identified and that police already had some suspects.

"I've had the boys out all morning chasing this up," Det. Insp Chapman said.

He said police detectives believed the crimes were linked, with investigations underway as plain clothes officers close-in on catching the criminals.

Crime scenes were established with forensics teams also undertaking DNA fingerprinting.

Det. Insp. Chapman was appealing for people to lock their homes, not to leave keys in cars, and phone police if anything out of the ordinary was seen.

"Just call us at the time you see anything, be vigilant and look after your neighbours," Det. Insp. Chapman said.

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"I'm sure your neighbours would appreciate it if you called us and we turned up and we actually apprehended someone."

Det. Insp. Chapman said Armidale had a fairly low crime rate but opportunistic thieves still traversed neighbourhoods and town streets, entering unlocked houses and vehicles.

"People just aren't securing their homes, they (thieves) aren't forcing and entering, they're opening unlocked doors," Det. Insp. Chapman said.

"So it's definitely a great concern, the sudden substantial increase in property crime in a night."

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