'Vandalism broke my heart', says restaurant owner

Mohammed's Taste of India, in Lowestoft, was left badly damaged after being targeted during the early hours of Tuesday morning

A restaurateur said he will be left tens of thousands of pounds out of pocket after his seafront eatery was vandalised, prompting the police to launch an investigation.

Mohammed's Taste of India, in Lowestoft, Suffolk, was targeted by "an unknown suspect" who smashed all of the restaurant's nine windows at 01:06 BST on Tuesday.

According to Suffolk Police, a man was spotted walking away from the scene up Waveney Road and in the direction of Battery Green Road shortly after.

"I am not Hercules or Tarzan, I am a human being, so it broke my heart, and I cannot even describe it, I just feel very depressed," said owner Shaheer Uddin Chohan, 60.

'I cannot think who could have done this to me'

"I have been living in town for nearly 40 years and I am very popular in Lowestoft, so I cannot think in my mind who could have done this to me," Mr Chohan said.

"I hope I am wrong, but the only thing my mind goes to is that it could be people who do not want any Muslim people in this country, but I am not sure."

Mr Chohan told the BBC he had shut his restaurant at 23:00 before going upstairs to his bedroom, before hearing a "bang, bang, bang" two hours later.

"We came down to see all the windows broken with all the glass inside the restaurant, and they had been hammered, so they had no chance to survive," he added.

The restaurant was boarded up and closed to diners due to the potential dangers posed by the damage to the windows and the surrounding structure.

'I am very friendly person'

Mr Chohan said replacing the windows would cost as much as £19,000, and it could take four months before he could reopen, leaving him potentially £20,000 out of pocket.

"I don't have the money to fix these windows, I have to pay the people who work for me, the gas and electric bills, my water bills and my taxes," he said.

"I socialise with people, I go to the pub, although I don't drink, and a lot of people in the town have grown old with me.

"Maybe somebody has a grudge against me, but I don't know why, because I am a very friendly person."