Spalding shop hit by ‘big loss’ after break-in
A Spalding newsagent is counting the cost after raiders stole more than £3,000 worth of goods and cash from a town store.
Asgar Vanparekh, co-owner with brother Abbas Laxmidhar of Classic News in Sheep Market, described the break-in overnight between Tuesday and Wednesday as a “big loss for us”.
Detectives found a crowbar and mobile phone at the store where raiders broke in through a back door and forced open a cabinet where the cigarettes were kept.
Raiders also took about £350 in cash from the shop’s float and then left, despite a security alarm being triggered while the break-in was in taking place.
Asgar Vanparekh said: “We had a call at about 2.10am on Wednesday morning and came from Peterborough, arriving in Spalding at about 2.50am.
“When we opened the shop, we realised that the cigarette cabinet was open and all the cigarettes had gone.
We’d had a big delivery on Tuesday and the cigarette cabinet was full, with £3,000 worth of cigarettes now stolen, so it’s not a nice experience and a big loss for us as a small business
“Then we found the back door was completely open and knew that’s how the burglars had gotten in.
“We called the police and they came within 30 minutes, taking photographs and our statements.
“They also found a mobile phone and a crowbar which they took away to analyse in case they are a great help to them.”
The brothers, who also own Spalding News in Market Place, took over Classic News from retired newsagent Muhammedi Yusuf nearly two and a half years ago, but this is the first time since then that it has been burgled.
Asgar said: “We’d had a big delivery on Tuesday and the cigarette cabinet was full, with £3,000 worth of cigarettes now stolen.
“Police have checked the CCTV, but they didn’t found an image of the people who broke in.
“It’s not a nice experience and a big loss for us as a small business.”
Anyone with information should 101, quoting incident number 20 of October 25.
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