Hundreds of dollars of gourmet food, $200 in cash and $100 in tips were taken from the Byng Street Local Store and Cafe in Orange, west of Bathurst, last Friday.

When the store's owner Jeremy Norris arrived to open up the cafe in the morning, there was no immediate sign something was amiss.

Then, he found a surprise in the cash register.

The thief had emptied it out, then taken time to apologise on a hastily-scribbled note on a scrap of paper which they left inside.

"I'm so sorry... poverty & addiction is to blame," the note read.

"I will not be around to be caught."

Mr Norris said while he appreciated criminals often had a tragic back story, he found the note in the cash register "hard to swallow".

"I work very hard for my business, I work seven days a week and 12-hour days at the moment ... it's frustrating that these people aren't working and they're usually living off the government," he said.

It was the sixth time he had been stolen from in a year, and several days later his home – next door to the shop – was targeted again.

Thieves took a music system, his TV, an iPad, and a ceremonial knife that had belonged to his late father that had immense sentimental value.

"I was in tears, my father passed away just over a year ago and they nicked that," he said.

"The television and all that can be replaced but not that."

Mr Norris said governments needed to take drug addiction seriously and tackle the problem, as that is the only way to reduce crime.

Canobolas Local Area Command crime manager Bruce Grassick said police were investigating the thefts from Mr Norris.

However, he said they could not rule drugs in or out as a motive for the theft.

"A large amount of property crime is related to drugs but it doesn't always go back to drugs," he said.

Detective Inspector Grassick said police recently had success in the area with Strike Force Myack, a targeted operation that netted drug dealers who received property in exchange for methamphetamines.

"At the end of last year we were looking into a drug syndicate extending in Orange and Bathurst," Detective Inspector Grassick said.

"We arrested three ladies for supplying a commercial quantity of methamphetamines and there was a recovery of property."

He said drugs were a problem in regional areas across the state.

"We have seen a significant amount of drugs, particularly methamphetamines, in the community but also in Cowra and satellite cities but it is no different to any other regional centre."

Western Advocate