Raiders have ransacked a shop. They smashed their way inside Stoke Mart to steal thousands of pounds worth of cigarettes, tobacco, vapes and alcohol – and pinched £600 from the till.
Shop manager Ashfaq Ali discovered the scene of devastation when he opened the Shelton New Road shop on Tuesday. Staffordshire Police are investigating.
The 28-year-old said: “I saw the door was broken and went straight into panic. When I entered, I realised the shop had been robbed. They caused a lot of damage. They wrecked the CCTV system, broke the alarm system, and damaged all three doors. They damaged the wall too when they were trying to get behind the security gate.”
Stoke Mart only opened on December 6.
Ashfaq added: “I was shocked. I had closed the shop just like I do every day and normally everything is fine. I never expected to see something like this after I made sure everything was locked up and properly secured. I called my boss and he said, ‘Don’t panic, just call the police and we’ll get through this’. But it’s a really painful thing. We only opened the shop last month.
“Business had been going well. People were starting to come in more now they’d realised we’d opened and things were starting to pick up. But this has been a major setback. We’ve lost a lot of the money we invested into getting the shop stocked up and we’ve already lost a day of trade.
“We’re panicked about whether they’ll come again. We’re very afraid to restock because nobody has been caught yet. We’re insured for losses so we’re hoping we can get the money back. We’re just talking to the insurers at the minute and explaining things. We’ve got an appointment with them soon. Hopefully we can get what we lost back and carry on running as normal.”
Stoke Mart was ransacked on Monday night
Staffordshire Police are appealing for witnesses.
A police spokesperson said: “We were called to Stoke Mart following reports of a burglary. The till, cash, tobacco and a number of bottles of alcohol were stolen sometime between 10pm on 6 January and 9.15am on 7 January. No-one was reported hurt. Our inquiries are ongoing and we are currently appealing to anyone with relevant CCTV or dashcam footage to contact us.”
Any witnesses should call the police on 101, quoting incident number 177 of 7 January, or call Crimestoppers, anonymously, on 0800 555111.
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