Workers left terrified after gangs of youths swarm Casey bottle shops
Young thugs are targeting liquor stores in Melbourne’s southeast and fleeing to nearby parks to booze up. It comes as terrified workers reveal their bottle shops have been swarmed several times in recent months. WATCH THE FOOTAGE
South East
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Young thugs are blatantly breaching lockdown restrictions and swarming southeast bottle shops to steal alcohol while terrified workers look on helpless to stop them.
The Leader has spoken to bottle shop owners in Hampton Park and Cranbourne, who have been targeted by brazen youths who storm in, scoop up armfuls of booze, and make a run for it.
In some cases, the teens are known to flee to nearby parks to booze up and run amok breaching Stage 4 lockdown restrictions.
Bottlemart Hampton Park owner Harry Xing said he had been left “angered” after his shop was targeted twice in the past two months.
“The first time two young girls in their school uniform came in and stole bottles and ran out,” Mr Xing said.
“The second time three boys who looked 15 came, quickly grabbed bottles of alcohol and stormed out, I chased them out but couldn’t catch them, it’s very bad.”
He said police should increase patrols around the area.
“It’s not that safe with lockdown at the moment, the area has become more dangerous,” Mr Xing said.
Last week, the Leader also witnessed dramatic scenes unfold when young thugs stormed the BWS in Hampton Park Shopping Centre on Friday, August 15, and refused to hand over their IDs upon entering the shop.
The youths ran to the back of the store and attempted to steal bottles of vodka, with the workers calling in security and nearby Woolworths workers to stop them.
The group then quickly ran out empty-handed, threatening the workers.
One worker told the Leader the same group had hit the store the same week and fled with bottles of vodka.
Another worker said the same group were known to swarm the shop and make a run for it to the nearby park on Hallam Rd and booze up there.
A Cranbourne bottle shop worker, who asked not to be named, said the shop had also been targeted several times in recent months.
“They have no fear of the law, that’s the problem with the these teens,” he said.
“I stand my ground with them, but I know the younger workers do get scared and feel threatened, there needs to be tougher laws to deal with this.”
Casey local area commander Inspector Don Brown said police were aware of a number of thefts occurring at liquor stores in the past 12 months.
“While any crime is concerning to police, it’s important to note that many of these thefts do not involve any kind of confrontation,” Insp Brown said.
“Police are working hard to address the issue and conduct regular proactive patrols at local shopping precincts in an effort to deter and detect any crimes.”
Insp Brown said liquor licencing officers were also working closely with local businesses to provide recommendations for crime prevention strategies.
“The community can be assured Victoria Police’s priority is making sure people are safe and feel safe in the Casey area,” he said.
A Victoria Police spokeswoman said police were investigating two thefts on Kirkwood Cres, Hampton Park on July 12 and August 3.
“As part of Operation Sentinel, police continue to proactively patrol the community to enforce Stage 4 restrictions across Metropolitan Melbourne,” the spokeswoman said.
“Police will issue $1652 fines for any deliberate, obvious and blatant breaches of the Chief Health Officer directions.”
Endeavour Group, parent company of BWS and Dan Murphy’s, national asset protection manager Darryl Brecknell said the company don’t tolerate abuse or aggressive behaviour in its stores, which is why security was called in this instance.
“While the absolute majority of our customers do the right thing, we have an extensive set of security measures, including electronic article surveillance, radio frequency tags on premium products and very high-quality digital CCTV cameras,” Mr Brecknell said.
WHY THIS NEEDS TO STOP
For the past year, I have reported on incidents of thieves swarming alcohol shops in Casey and Cardinia.
There have also been several reports to various crime pages in the southeast of young thugs threatening workers, stealing booze and making a run for it.
On Friday, August 15 about 7.25pm, I witnessed a terrifying attempted theft of alcohol at BWS at Hampton Park Shopping Centre.
A group of youths, who appeared to be intoxicated with some having bloodshot eyes, stormed in and ran to the back of the shop.
The worker said: “Hey, I need all of your IDs now”, with one of them responding: “F*** you, come outside now and we’ll take you on.”
While the youths continued to all spread out in each corner of the shop, I could hear one of them rummaging through bottles inside the fridge.
The worker then shouted out for security, who quickly ran in and stood at the front of the shop.
Nearby Woolworths workers also ran in to help.
When the youths knew they were surrounded, they began quickly fleeing the store appearing to be empty-handed.
One of them said to the workers: “F*** you, you don’t want my money then.”
The ordeal lasted only minutes, but the brazen nature of these youths is what struck me most.
Several bottle shop workers have revealed how these youths “have no fear of the law” — and they’re right.
It’s time for the State Government to crackdown on these lawless gangs who are running amok, giving police a mandate to pull them into line, and courts to bring harsher penalties.
The Casey and wider Melbourne community, who are already reeling from the devastating impact of the pandemic, deserve better and to feel safe when shopping at their local supermarkets.
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