By PETER CATON

MURWILLUMBAH surf-shop proprietor Mark Newman looked at his smashed front windows and expressed surprise at how brazen thieves had become.

Two thieves were caught on a store security camera at 3.30am yesterday morning running off with stolen gear after smashing their way through the the windows with large bricks.

In 13 months of running Surf Solutions ? Murwillumbah's first specialist surfing gear and clothing store ? Mr Newman said he had already had two other break-ins through the rear of his store.

Yesterday's smash-and-grab, he said, resulted in the loss of three skateboards valued at about $160 each and one body board priced at $389.

Police are understood to have detained two youths from Tweed Heads with a quantity of goods, suspected of being stolen, in their car.

Murwillumbah and District Business Chamber director Steve Abram from the nearby Buzz Bar music and games store said the incident was the latest of a number of attacks on businesses in the town involving smashed windows.

He called on businesses and residents in the town to report crime and vandalism no matter how small.

Mr Abram said a special police call centre number 131444 could be used, but the reports were vital if the business chamber and politicians were to push for more police in the town.

"A lot of people don't report minor crime because they believe it will take up valuable police resources," Mr Abram said.

"We have to report it no matter how minor."

Meanwhile, the new noise-buffer walls along the Tweed Heads bypass of the Pacific Highway were vandalised this week with graffiti.

Council workers later painted over the graffiti, which included a slogan 'Italy cheats' a reference to the controversial win by Italy over the Socceroos in the World Cup finals last week.

A police spokesman said vandalism in the Tweed tended to increase slightly while school holidays, which started in NSW this week, were in progress.

"It should be quieter this time of the year with the cold, but there's no hard or fast rules," the spokesman said.

Lennox Head also experienced holiday vandalism on Saturday night when up to 40 tyres were slashed by what is believed to be young students on school holidays.

And in the fall-out from another vandalism episode, the iconic Bugs Bunny statue at Warner Bros MovieWorld store in Surfers Paradise which was damaged earlier this year is being repaired by a Tweed Heads firm.

Drunken youths are believed to have decapitated the statue, causing about $3000 worth of damage.