FALMOUTH — In fiction, burglars in ski masks usually pull off elaborate heists or bank robberies, going after massive sums of money or priceless artifacts.

But masked bandits skulking in the dead of night recently became reality at one Foreside Road business.

The masked thieves were recorded on camera Friday, May 20, at 3:30 a.m. stealing an antique Coca-Cola cooler valued at around $1,000 from Town Landing Market.

Police Lt. John Kilbride said there are no significant leads on the whereabouts of the machine. He said detectives are working on the theft of the cooler, and the case remains under investigation.

The vehicle used was a pickup truck parked on Town Landing Road. Footage shows two suspects loading the cooler into the truck.

Based on their behavior, Kilbride believes the perpetrators are “youthful males.”

“They definitely noticed the camera,” he said.

MaryBeth Bachman, who owns the market, said the cooler was missing from the outside of the store when she came into work Saturday morning. At first she thought someone had borrowed it, but after calling her business partners and employees, she discovered it had not been taken by someone she knew.

“There’s still hope that maybe it was a prank, but probably not,” Bachman said. “They didn’t look like pranksters.”

She said the video didn’t show the truck’s licence plate, which made her nervous about other items being stolen.

“We were never worried about anything,” Bachman said.

Bachman said the cooler has been used for storage, but she had planned to use it for soft drinks this summer.

Kilbride said the suspects brought bolt cutters to steal the appliance, although Bachman said the cooler was not chained.

The odds it will be recovered depend on what the thieves want to do with it. Kilbride said the cooler doesn’t have distinctive marks, so if the thieves plan to keep it, it’s unlikely it will be found. If they try to sell it somewhere, he said it’s possible police could be tipped.

“Generally, stuff like that you don’t get back, but it all depends on what they want to do with it,” he said.

Kilbride said anyone with information should contact Detective Jeffrey Pardue at 781-2300.

Town Landing Market is otherwise not a typical target for thieves. Kilbride said police “never have problems there.”

Colin Ellis can be reached at 781-3661 ext. 123 or cellis@theforecaster.net. Follow him on Twitter: @colinoellis.

This antique Coca-Cola cooler was stolen from outside the Town Landing Market on Foreside Road in Falmouth May 20 by two masked individuals.

Police are investigating the theft at Town Landing Market in Falmouth of an antique Coca-Cola cooler stolen by two masked individuals. The suspects’ vehicle is the truck on the right.