By LACHLAN MOORHEAD
THE owner of the Doveton Fruit Shop said he was shocked after about 10 boxes of produce were stolen from his store last week.
Rath Kim, who only took over the Doveton Fruit Shop in Autumn Place around four months ago, said his wife was the first person to notice the store had been robbed overnight when she went to open it up on the morning of Friday 14 August.
Mr Kim said he had driven by the store in the early hours of Friday morning but hadn’t noticed anything suspicious.
“On Friday morning about 1am I got up from my property and went to my fruit shop but I didn’t realise the fridge was broken into,” he said.
“And then at 7.30 my wife went to the shop to open up and saw it like that, and she rang me to say the fruit had been stolen.
“They broke into the fridge and took the fruit and vegies.”
It’s the second time the store has been robbed since Mr Kim took over. He said he filed a report with police after a similar robbery occurred just over a month after he started as the new owner of the store.
In last week’s burglary around 10 boxes of produce were stolen from the shop, valued at between $300 to $400 in total.
“I’m very shocked because I’d never think people would rob fruit and vegies,” Mr Kim said.
“I’ve never seen it in my life. They’re not very valuable.”
Detective Sergeant Chris Lewis, the police officer looking into the fruit theft, said the offenders had disabled the store’s CCTV cameras during the robbery.
“Who knows what the motivation is,” Det Sgt Lewis said.
“It’s not like jewellery where it goes through a pawn shop and you can track it. Fruit and vegies end up in the bin or someone’s stomach.”
Anyone with information is urged to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.
