Sunshine Coast’s Forest Glen IGA latest target for cigarette thieves

A businesswoman with six IGA stores has been robbed of about $60k of cigarettes in one year claiming it takes only minutes for thieves to steal and damage her stores. See the shocking footage.

A Sunshine Coast businesswoman who has experienced multiple break-ins of her grocery stores, and had $60,000 worth of cigarettes stolen, has called for solutions to the crime the community is experiencing.

Roz White has owned and managed IGAs on the Sunshine Coast since 1993.

She said in the past year, all six of her stores had been broken into at least once each.

In the latest incident, the IGA store in Forest Glen was targeted about 3.30am on Sunday morning.

Vision of the break-in shows a pair uses tyre irons to force a locked roller door protecting the cigarette cabinet open and put the stock into a sack before leaving the store.

Thieves broke into the Forest Glen IGA to steal cigarettes from behind the counter.

Mrs White said it took the thieves about three minutes to snatch about $15,000 worth of cigarettes and do “anywhere between $25,000 and $50,000” worth of damage.

She said they also smashed their way through a glass door to get into the shop.

Roz White says all six of her IGA stores have been broken into over the past year.

“We had a similar thing at our Baringa store about six or eight months ago, every store has been hit over 12 or 18 months,” Mrs White said.

“In Baringa they took $45,000 of cigarettes in six minutes.”

The businesswoman said 40 fire extinguishers needed replacing in the past year, in the Bli Bli Village Town Centre complex, because vandals had used them.

She said her insurance premium was increasing and she also had to pay out “massive excesses” with her claims.

Thieves stole about $15k worth of cigarettes in about three minutes at the Forest Glen IGA on Sunday morning.

“We try to create a heart space for the community, we want people to come in and enjoy our stores,” Mrs White said.

“It’s a violation of our safe and harmonious workplaces.”

Mrs White said everyone in the community needed to find solutions to the crime occurring on the Sunshine Coast.

“We need to be concerned by the escalation of these crimes and the rate that they’re happening at,” she said.

“We live in the most magnificent region, let’s preserve our way of life and combat any threat that might disrupt that.”

Sunshine Coast Criminal Investigation Branch officer-in-charge Detective Senior Sergeant Craig Mansfield said the investigation continued in the latest incident in Forest Glen.

“We’re still trying to ascertain methods of travel, of escape,” he said.

He said anyone with information should contact officers via Policelink or Crime Stoppers.