VICKSBURG, Miss. (AP) – Those responsible for the weekend break-in at the Vicksburg Factory Outlets likely pulled off similar burglaries in other areas, perhaps as far away as Maine, authorities say.

Police officials said they were contacting departments elsewhere in the country where the same type of burglaries have occurred.

“There are probably multiple suspects who participated in the burglary,” said Capt. Mark Culbertson, chief of detectives.

Culbertson said one other place where a factory-outlet store was entered through a hole cut into its roof and burglarized was the Timberland Factory Outlet store in Kittery, Maine.

At that store, a hole was found in the roof, layers of metal and rock had been cut through, and about $100,000 in merchandise was missing on Sept. 11, 2001, according to newspaper reports.

Police believe the burglars waited until late Friday night or early Saturday morning when no one was around and broke through the ceiling of one store, then broke through walls into others. Alarms were disabled.

Officials said inventories were being conducted to determine what was taken from five stores.

The burglaries were discovered Monday as employees arrived minutes before opening stores for the day. Thousands of dollars worth of merchandise – including an estimated 80 pairs of shoes – was taken.

“Burglars like the ones who hit both places often specialize in one type of preferred target,” Culbertson said.