CLUBBERS are counting the cost of nights out in Colchester with hundreds returning home minus a mobile phone.
 

Gangs of thieves have been operating in pubs and clubs in the town centre all year.
 

Between January and July almost 200 mobile phones were reported stolen - which does not include the vast number believed to have been taken but not reported.
 

There have been arrests, including most recently a 32-year-old woman arrested following an undercover operation on Saturday, but police are warning the public to beware.

See the full story in Thursday's Gazette.