Dairies in danger zone
Dairy owners fear rising tobacco prices are fuelling increasingly violent attacks on shops and want more of the tax take put back into protection.
In Christchurch this week, dairies in Templeton, Riccarton and Linwood were robbed in a
24-hour period. All the offenders remain at large.
The incidents are just the latest in a string of robberies at shops across Christchurch in recent months. Several have involved weapons.
One of the victims, Kirk Rd Dairy owner Anthony Jung, blamed the rising price of cigarettes, where a pouch of tobacco cost $50 and a packet of cigarettes $30, as driving robberies.
The Government was not helping, he said.
‘‘Stop increasing the price of cigarettes and tobacco. They’re getting all the revenue and not using it to help people who get robbed every day. It’s unworkable.’’
It had just gone
5.15pm on Wednesday, and Jung was alone in his Templeton store when men burst in armed with a pistol and a crowbar. He opted to run.
When he was last robbed about three years ago, the offenders beat him up. He thought about stopping selling tobacco but said people expected dairies to stock it.
The robberies were also becoming increasingly violent.
‘‘Before [the price of cigarettes rose] it was just break-ins at night. Now it’s robbery with pistols. My wife doesn’t want to work any more, my mother doesn’t want to work any more. It’s scary for them, it’s scary for me. What can I do? ‘‘Police say ‘you can’t arm yourself’ – no pepper spray, nothing – and the robbers are having a field day.’’
In the second incident, two people armed with a hammer and a knife took cigarettes, tobacco and cash from the Worcester Discount shop in Linwood about
‘‘Police say ‘you can’t arm yourself’ . . . and the robbers are having a field day.’’
Dairy owner Anthony Jung
8.20pm on Wednesday.
The pair threatened the woman working at the Worcester St store, who ran to the back of the store, before the offenders ran off.
Store owner Anil, who did not give a surname, said the thieves took thousands of dollars worth of cigarettes and cash.
Crime was a constant issue for the dairy, he said.
In the past four weeks, there had been about nine shoplifting incidents.
The third robbery happened at the Night ‘n Day store on Riccarton Rd, near Hagley Park, just before 5am yesterday.
Attendant Gursimsom Singh was alone in the store when a man in his early 20s brandished a steel rod at him.
‘‘He slammed it [the rod] down on the counter and said ‘this is a robbery’. I didn’t do anything. I just stood back and said ‘you take it’.’’
The man took cigarettes and
abut $600 cash.
On Tuesday, two men armed with knives allegedly assaulted a worker as they tried to rob a dairy in Somerset Crescent.
Police arrested Joshua James Allan, 36, and Jamal Richard Lawson, 29.
Owner Frank said the two men rushed into the store just after 12pm armed with knives and carrying two large bags.
The men then stole the cash register, filled their bags with cigarettes and tobacco and fled.
Frank, who was shaken up from the experience, said it was becoming very dangerous to be a dairy owner.
He said the Government should take some responsibility and not lay it solely on small business owners to safeguard themselves from possible armed offenders.
Associate Health Minister Jenny Salesa said the Government had directed the Ministry of Health to commission an independent evaluation on the effect of the tobacco excise. It was expected to be completed by the end of the year.
‘‘This work will include any unintended consequences of tobacco price increases, such as an increase in crime, including illicit trade, as well as the financial impact on smokers and their families.’’
Police National Prevention Centre Inspector Penny Gifford said business owners needed to improve the visibility to their store, make items of higher value harder to access and install deterrents such as CCTV and audible alarms.
Those particularly vulnerable to aggravated robbery and theft were being encouraged to acquire fog cannons.
Since January, 170 cannons have been installed as part of a subsidy programme.
Anyone with information about any of the robberies should call police on 03 363 7400 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.