Burglars steal £20k worth of vapes in Totton ram-raid
- Published
Police said a large quantity of vape items were stolen
A vape shop in Hampshire has been wrecked and about £20,000 worth of stock stolen in a ram-raid burglary.
Tidal Vape in Rumbridge Street, Totton, was targeted at about 03:20 GMT on Sunday.
Burglars smashed into the glass frontage of the store, which sells sells vapes, e-cigarettes, CBD products and accessories.
Hampshire Constabulary confirmed officers were investigating after attending the scene.
Tidal Vape senior operations manager Ben Richardson said he received a phone call from the alarm company in the early hours and went to the shop, where police were already on the scene.
He said: "They [the burglars] pulled up at the store on the T-junction. One of them got out with a tonne bag and the other reversed straight into the shop.
"It's hard when you see something like that. We've had quite a lot of simple robberies at other stores but seeing something like that was eye-opening.
"It's shocking but more annoying than anything else. I've now got to replace a whole shopfront."
Mr Richardson said the offenders mainly targeted disposable vapes but also took liquid and coils.
"The stock value is around the £20,000 mark," he said.
"Shopfront damaged, business closed - getting into the tens of thousands [of pounds]."
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