CITY BURGLARY

Dominion, Volume 18, Issue 180, 24 April 1924, Page 6

CITY BURGLARY

32,000 CIGARETTES STOLEN

MESSRS. WILLS’S WAREHOUSE ENTERED

Burglars broke into the warehouse of Messrs. W. D. and H. O. Wills, Ltd., Wakefield Street, during Mondav night, or early on Tuesday morning, and got away with 32,000 cigarettes. When the premises were being opened on Tuesday morning, the discovery was made that the front door had been forced open. A collapsible trellis gate bars the approach to the front door, and it appears that the burglars scaled the gate to attack the door. An implement, probably a jemmy, was used on the door, winch was 'somewhat knocked about. The lock was forced off, and the handle of the lock was torn away. This gave the intruders entrance to the front office, and they then broke the Customs Department’s lock on the door of the bonded store. Ihe burglars knocked some battens off a door, undid screws and took out the bolt and then pushed the door in. The visitors next emptied the tobacco dust out of some sacks standing in the cart dock, and filled the sacks with boxes of cigarettes. They quickly decamped with ’their booty by the same way through which they had entered. The cigarettes were in packets of ten, packed in boxes of 500. lhe burglars took sixty-four of these boxes, so it is evident that they used a vehicle in which to carry the stolen goods away. The retail value of the cigarettes taken is over £9O. As the cigarettes were under bond, the Customs Department is also a loser of dutv by the theft. The fact that the front door of the premises is protected by a grill some feet away, rendered it impossible for the police constable on the beat to test the security of the door while on his rounds. The door was shut to, and a casual glance would not disclose the fact that it had been forced open. The detectives have the matter in hand.