Berry Springs Tavern hit by ciggie thieves twice in four days

BURGLARS have now made off with more than $10,000 worth of cigarettes from the family-owned pub

Berry Springs Tavern Owner Ian Sloan has been broken into four times this year. Picture: KERI MEGELUS

THE Berry Springs Tavern has again found itself the target of thieves, less than a week after the last break-in.

The $9000 cigarette haul the burglars made off with in the early hours of Sunday morning brings the total loss to the business to about $12,000 in four days.

It marks the fourth time in eight months the Berry Springs watering hole has been targeted by criminals.

Tavern owner Ian Sloan said he was increasingly exasperated by the thefts and was in the process of upgrading security.

“I’m a bit lost for words I’ll be honest mate, it’s very disappointing,” he said. “We had actually done a couple of upgrades on Friday but we’ve got more upgrades planned for the next week or so.”

Mr Sloan said the business had recently undergone a security audit and he was confident the current upgrades would be up to the task in the long run.

“They told us our security’s actually quite good but we’re upgrading it a little bit more,” he said.

“I hope that’s the end of it for now.”

A Northern Territory Police spokesman said that two unknown men broke into the tavern about 3.50am on Sunday.

“They gained entry to the bottle shop area and took four drawers of cigarettes,” he said.

The spokesman said the vehicle the men were driving was a silver sedan, possibly a late-model Mitsubishi.

He said the men were described as caucasian and were wearing dark clothing at the time of the break-in.

The most recent burglary is the now the third since the reintroduction of the Banned Drinker Register in September, which Mr Sloan has speculated could be a factor in the crimes.

“I don’t know whether that’s a coincidence or whether they’re chasing alcohol because they can’t get it elsewhere,” he said.

Anyone with information should call police on 131 444 or Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.