Thieves knew where to go

By Lia Bichel
Police said the burglary happened between 7pm on 6 October and 6am on 7 October at Lindens Country Meats in Parkhill Plaza, Berwick.
Manager Graeme Beard received a phone call from the shop’s owner, saying that a person from a nearby store noticed the front door of Lindens Country Meats was smashed.
Mr Beard arrived to find the front door’s glass panel shattered, a large hole in the office wall and the safe and surveillance footage missing.
“Nothing else in the shop was touched. It’s not usual that people keep money in the front of the shop anyway, but it’s as if the person knew exactly where everything was,” he said.
“The door of the office was locked, so when the person who did this couldn’t jemmy it open, they kicked a hole in the plaster-type wall. They also managed to steal the safe, which was bolted to the ground, and stole the hard drive for our surveillance camera. They had a lot of time to do everything.”
The shop was not fitted with an alarm system, but Mr Beard said security guards regularly patrolled the plaza. He hoped this incident would push centre management to install CCTV cameras to prevent further crime.
“This is the first time something like this has happened to our shop, and it’s disappointing. Things were going so well, and then all of a sudden, it turned ugly,” he said.
“Other shops in the plaza have been hit by thieves in the past, so hopefully we can get centre management to put in the cameras.”
Attempts to contact Centre Management were unsuccessful.
Despite the giant mess in the back of the shop, Mr Beard said the front door was replaced quickly and business was able to continue as usual.
Mr Beard said he believed there were two “fairly big people” responsible for the theft.
Any person with information is asked contact Crime Stoppers 1800 333 000 or to notify Detective Senior Constable Mark Wiederhold at Casey CIU on 9705 3111.