Berry Springs Tavern ram raided and broken into by 10 people

Two staff members at a popular Top End tavern have been left traumatised after witnessing 10 people break in while they hid in the office. Watch the video.

The owner of a popular Top End pub ram raided overnight said the crime crisis in Darwin is out of control.

Berry Springs Tavern was the latest premises to be targeted this week, with two cars used to break in and steal a quantity of alcohol and money.

“It’s ridiculous,” owner Leah Sloan said.

“They’re getting more brazen and they know that they’re not held accountable.”

Mrs Sloan said two of her staff were still closing up when the incident occurred.

A Toyota Landcruiser troop carrying ten people was used to gain entry to the bottle shop.

A second Toyota Landcruiser was also used by the alleged offenders to flee the scene.

NT Police are now calling for information from the public, with one of the vehicles seen in Coolalinga before speeding off.

“Investigators are urging anyone with information, particularly anyone with dash-cam of land cruisers driving erratically in the area, to make contact on 131 444. Please quote reference 10143970,” Detective Senior Sergeant Mark Bland said.

Mrs Sloan said the two staff members were “traumatised” by their involvement in the incident.

“My staff had the smarts to drop everything and lock themselves in the office,” she said.

“They were traumatised for six minutes while watching it from the office.”

Berry Springs Tavern publicans Ian and Leah Sloan took over ownership in 2014.

She praised the response from the police and said it was now time for the government to act on the issue.

“It’s our judicial system and the people that don’t have any balls to stand up,” she said.

“It’s time for this government to step up and work for the people who are paying taxes and time for them to support those people.”

Mrs Sloan and her husband Ian have owned the Berry Springs Tavern since 2014 and said they had been broken into about 10 times over the years.

She said it was getting harder and harder to be a small-business owner with the amount of crime that is occurring.

“We don’t get our stock back, we don’t get our money back — that coupled with all the extra pressure that’s been put on us is really hard,” she said.

“Local business doesn’t have the energy to sustain this bullshit.”

“People that are born and bred in Darwin and care about employing people are going to be driven out of town.”

The Tavern dealt with a spree over break ins in late 2017.

Then in 2021 a wheelie bin was used to steal about $10,000 worth of booze and cigarettes from the bottle shop.

A bottle shop in Alice Springs was also ram raided this week, with alleged offenders running off with a considerable amount of alcohol.

Detectives from Strike Force Trident are currently investigating.