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Anthony Phelps/STUFF/Marlborough Express
The front door of Blenheim vape shop Hot Boxx has been damaged after a break-in on Thursday night.
The owner of a Blenheim vape shop burgled on Thursday night says it’s the third time his shop has been targeted in nine months.
Karn Bir said he was alerted to the break-in by his alarm company, and went down to find the front door of Hot Boxx, on Charles St, had been ripped from its hinges, and a window was smashed.
“It’s not good,” Bir said on Friday morning, as police dusted his display cabinets for fingerprints.
Anthony Phelps/Stuff
Police dust for fingerprints at the Charles St store on Friday morning.
Bir estimated up to $3000 worth of vaping products had been taken.
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It was the third time his store had been broken into since it opened in June last year, Bir said. The last break-in was on Christmas Eve.
“The second (break-in) was worse, they only took a few vapes, but … they damaged heaps,” Bir said.
Hot Boxx had six other stores throughout New Zealand, but Bir said only the Blenheim location was regularly targeted by burglars.
Police confirmed they attended reports of a burglary on Charles St at about 9.20pm on Thursday.
Anthony Phelps/Stuff
A store window has been damaged, and the door was ripped from its hinges during the break-in.
A police spokesperson said on Friday a public safety team searched the area with help from the police dog section but nobody had yet been arrested.
Around the corner on Market St, Anna Armstrong, manager of No 4 Boutique, reckoned someone had tried to illegally enter the clothing store on either Tuesday or Wednesday night, after noticing that the door seal had been singed.
Jamie Bessant/Supplied
Two men were seen on CCTV breaking through the glass of the Shake and Vape store in Auckland. Video first published March 7, 2023.
“It’s a bugger,” Armstrong said, as it was the first time any damage had been done to the store since it moved to its current location three-and-half years ago.
She had been in touch with the police about it, she said.
Vapes were becoming a common target for burglars and thieves. In the early hours of Friday, a group ram-raided a convenience store in Rolleston, southwest of Christchurch, and took vaping products, lollies and potato chips.
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