Thieves attack staff over vodka drinks at Thirsty Camel bottle shop at the Highway Hotel at Plympton

Two workers needed medical attention after four people stormed the Adelaide hotel’s bottle shop.

Security camera footage from a bottle-shop in Adelaide’s west has shown brazen thieves attacking staff over a four-pack of vodka drinks before fleeing the scene on Tuesday.

Police are searching for four people who stormed the Thirsty Camel bottle-shop at the Highway Hotel in Plympton at about 4pm on Tuesday, with reports staff were threatened with scissors and assaulted with an unopened bottle.

According to 9News Adelaide, four males stormed the bottle-shop and started grabbing alcohol off the shelf, before staff intervened and a fight broke out inside the store.

South Australia Police are searching for four suspects who allegedly stormed a western suburbs bottle shop in an attempt to steal alcohol before a fight broke out with staff. Picture: 7NEWS

A worker attempted to stop the thieves from leaving the store, however, he was approached by a younger man and assaulted with one of the bottles.

The pack was worth about $25.

Secretary of the Retail Workers Union, Josh Peak told 9News Adelaide that grab-and-go, or, snatch-and-run thefts from retail stores were on the rise.

“Well we know that 80 percent of our members have reported (thefts) to us in South Australia in the last 12-months,” he said.

“They’ve been assaulted or abused whilst working, so it’s incredibly frequent.”

As a result of the incident on Tuesday, a staff member suffered a head injury, while another worker suffered a dislocated knee and had to be taken to the Flinders Medical Centre.

South Australia Police are searching for four suspects who allegedly stormed a western suburbs bottle shop in an attempt to steal alcohol before a fight broke out with staff. Picture: 7NEWS

Chief Executive of the Australian Hotels Association, Anna Moeller told 9News Adelaide that more needed to be done to crack down on retail theft.

“This is something that has been ongoing for, since, probably, or increased during COVID,” she said.

“Industry is doing as much as it can, SAPOL is doing as much as they can, government’s doing what they can, it’s now a matter for the courts to impose those stronger penalties.”

Following the altercation, witnesses reported that the suspects fled across Anzac Highway and into the back streets of Plympton.

Police are still searching for the four suspects, whose ages vary from teenagers to adults.

Originally published as Thieves attack staff over vodka drinks at Thirsty Camel bottle shop at the Highway Hotel at Plympton