South Simcoe police are appealing for the public’s help to solve a distraction theft at a convenience store in Cookstown.

Police were called to Charlie Brown’s Variety on King Street around 4:30 p.m. Sunday for a theft.

They say seven suspects entered the store and distracted the lone employee. While that was occurring, one suspect went into a back room and removed a quantity of cash.

“They kind of over ran my employee by making him extremely busy and distracting him,” said owner Charlie Brown.

The entire incident was captured on the stores multiple surveillance cameras and only lasted four minutes.

“It's pretty brazen to me,” Brown said.

The employee did not discover the theft until later that evening.

The suspects were two men and five women who left the scene in a white minivan.