A DIGGER who lost his life savings when $200,000 in gold and silver was stolen from his safe says two other houses have been robbed of precious metals in Brisbane in the last six months.

The spate of burglaries has raised the prospect of professional thieves targeting collectors through websites where they discuss and trade gold and silver.

Corporal Christopher Lunt fronted a media conference with his partner Krista Hochwallner on Thursday to appeal for help in solving the New Year's Eve theft.

"Ten years of hard work, money from two deployments overseas, Afghanistan and Iraq, just instantly gone. Just gut-wrenching, absolutely gut wrenching,'' Corporal Lunt said.

"We were setting ourselves up for the future. We were looking at a house very soon. Just being smart with our money and we thought that was our best investment. It was really our future.''

He started amassing gold and silver as a hobby following advice from his father to "be smart with your money and buy something that's tangible''.

"It just started off really small and over time it just grew and grew and grew.

"I've been really looking into putting that away in safe deposit boxes which was only going to happen in two weeks' time when we move. Unfortunately it was just bad timing.

"Bullion will stand out. I just hope a bit of media and the public's interest might catch these people who have ruined our lives.

"I tried to be a smart solider and not come home and blow it on flash cars and expensive holidays.

"I went without and just put the money in the bank and made the smart investment decisions to grow our future and be financially stable.''

Corporal Lunt said he never mentioned to anyone that he had a safe but he did use an internet forum to do trades.

"Surprisingly in the last six months three houses (including his) in the Brisbane region have been targeted.''

Earlier, The Courier-Mail reported a digger who served in Iraq and Afghanistan has told of losing his life savings after thieves stole $200,000 in gold and silver from his safe.

Corporal Christopher Lunt returned from New Year's Eve celebrations to find his house ransacked, his safe cracked open and 75kg in uninsured bullion and coins missing.

The gang used a wheelie bin to haul away the precious metals and covered their tracks by flushing the scene with bleach in the professional hit.

``That's really been my life savings. That's the last 10 years in the military. I've just been putting away and saving that,'' a gutted Corporal Lunt told The Courier-Mail yesterday.

Corporal Lunt, 31, who serves in the 1st Signal Regiment at Gallipoli Barracks, lives in Defence housing with his partner Krista Hochwallner.

They left their home at Ellie Court at Upper Kedron at 6pm on New Year's Eve to go to the home of Corporal Lunt's parents at Keperra, 5km away.

When they returned at 3am they opened their front door to be hit with the smell of bleach and ``knew straight away something was wrong''.

``We walked down to the bedroom. The room was just turned upside down. I realised they'd gotten into my safe,'' he said.

``They had just peeled open my safe. I had $200,000 in silver and gold.''

The thieves tore a side door off its hinges to enter the house and managed to pry open the safe, which was bolted to the floor.

The home's wheelie bin was found 200m down the road, next to a small amount of the bullion left behind on the road in the rush to flee.

Police were doorknocking the neighbourhood yesterday as Corporal Lunt tried to help pinpoint who could be behind the burglary.

``Is it just a random break-in because our house had no-one in it and was dark and they just got really lucky?

``Or is it someone I've known through my forums and websites and people I've dealt with, or a bullion dealer who knows my address? There's just so many ways to point the finger.

``I just thought it was a smart investment and I just liked collecting coins.''

A neighbour heard the wheelie bin being taken down the road at about 10.30pm Tuesday but thought it was Corporal Lunt.

The robbery came only a week before the couple was due to move to a new home at Amberley - and only days before Corporal Lunt planned to put the bullion in a safe-deposit box.

Corporal Lunt spent seven months in Iraq in 2007 and 2008 and spent four months in Afghanistan in 2011.

Ms Hochwallner said she was devastated by the callous crime, which had destroyed their plans of buying their own home.

``We have normal contents insurance for everything else but they don't cover it,'' she said.

``Most of it he earned going to Iraq and Afghanistan. He saved every cent when he went over there, and he's lost it all.''

The robbery was one of several crimes committed on New Year's Eve, with police also hunting three men believed to have carried out a string of violent armed robberies around Brisbane on Tuesday.

News_Rich_Media: Two people have been hurt during a crime spree in Brisbane as a gang terrorised workers at four businesses, but escaped with little. Courtesy Ten News.

The first incident occurred just after 11am when two men entered a Manly West business where they tried to unsuccessfully to access a staff-only area. They left empty-handed but one of the offenders attacked a male customer during the incident with a wooden stick, knocking him to the ground and leaving him with arm and rib injuries.

About an hour later two men entered a bottle shop on Gladstone Rd at Highgate Hill and yelled demands at the attendant before stealing cash and alcohol, again fleeing in a silver car.

Half an hour later two men entered a nearby service station, also on Gladstone Rd. One man was armed with a tyre iron and the other with a wooden stick.

As one man demanded cash from the attendant the man with the stick began flinging it around, hitting a female customer on the arm and knocking over merchandise.

The men then stole the customer's handbag as well as cash from the till and again fled in a silver car.

Crime Stoppers can be contacted on 1800 333 000.