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Home / Rotorua Daily Post

Whakatāne ram raid: Vape store building structure shifts while $8000 worth of products stolen

Cira Olivier
Cira Olivier
Multimedia Journalist, Bay of Plenty Times·Bay of Plenty Times·
20 Jun, 2023 02:09 AM3 mins to read

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Thieves targeted a Whakatāne vape store on Tuesday morning.

Thieves targeted a Whakatāne vape store on Tuesday morning.

Dramatic footage shows three masked thieves ramming their way into a Bay of Plenty vape store before stealing $8000 worth of products.

Boom Vape Shop in Whakatāne has been forced to close temporarily due to the damage caused by the burglary early this morning.

CCTV footage shows a car pulling up to the kerb before getting in position and ramming the shop’s storefront and bollard twice.

The door can be seen falling and the front of the car falls off.

Two masked people jump out of the car while a third person runs in from a car parked on the street.

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They then spend a few seconds trying to get through perspex protection in the store by kicking it and trying to use an object to pry it open, with no luck.

Thieves targeted a Whakatāne vape store on Tuesday morning.
Thieves targeted a Whakatāne vape store on Tuesday morning.

They all move out of the doorway, with one of them jumping back in the car and ramming it into the door again with more force, causing smoke to come out of the car.

The entire building shakes and products can be seen falling to the ground.

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The trio are seen running back in and prying open the perspex with ease before taking several loads of products from the top shelf.

At one stage two of the thieves run into each other, dropping products in the process.

They can be seen running to the second vehicle parked on the road, dropping the vape products, but returning to pick them up before getting in the second vehicle.

Police said they were called to the burglary on Goulstone Rd around 4.59am and were making inquiries to find those involved.

Boom Vape Shop owner Pawik Patel said they knew “exactly what they wanted and went for the most expensive brand and took all of it”.

He said they targeted two major brands of disposable vapes valued at about $8000.

Thieves targeted a Whakatāne vape store on Tuesday morning.
Thieves targeted a Whakatāne vape store on Tuesday morning.

While he was unsure exactly what the repairs would cost, he said it would be more than the value of the goods stolen. The aluminum door alone cost $3000.

The impact of the vehicle, seen in the CCTV footage, knocked the bollards in front of the store crooked.

Patel said the store would remain closed most likely until the weekend as they waited for a new door to arrive.

The “building structure has shifted” which meant it couldn’t open until the building’s internal beam and structure had been secured which would then allow the door to be installed.

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The store was also “brand new” and had only been open for five months.

”All we can do is suffer.”

While this was the first time his new vape store had been targeted, his superette was both held up and ram-raided on separate occasions in 2021.

More to come.

Cira Olivier is a social issues and breaking news reporter for NZME Bay of Plenty. She has been a journalist since 2019.

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