Employees are cleaning up after thieves smashed their way into a vape store in Cambridge. The break-in happened on Wednesday, around 4:30 a.m., at VIP Vape on St. Andrews Street. In security video shown to CTV News, the suspects kicked at the front door, causing the glass to shatter onto the ground. A tow strap was wrapped around the door and security gate. Once the other end had been attached to their vehicle, the door was forcefully ripped from the building. Neighbouring businesses and a sidewalk railing were also damaged. Security video then showed the suspects inside the store. “They smashed all the cases in there and grabbed a bunch of stuff,” said Eon Likholyot, an employee at VIP Vape. According to him, the value of the stolen merchandise was approximately $3,000 to $4,000. “They took a lot of disposable products,” Likholyot said. “It didn’t really look like they knew what they were looking for. No cash or anything was touched. It was just a lot of products directly from the cases.” The thieves, he added, missed some of the higher-value items in the store. “There’s a bunch of stuff in the back that’s not secured in cases that wasn’t taken,” Likholyot explained. “So, it looked very clearly [like] they planned it to some extent because they knew how to get around our security measures. But the process itself seemed very haphazard, and they were just dumping whatever they could into big black bins.” Waterloo Regional Police called it a targeted break-in, and they want to speak with anyone who witnessed or has video of the incident. “We really do rely on members of the public for information,” Const. Brad Hickey told CTV News. “It may seem like a very small bit of information to you, but it could really assist in our investigation.” Likholyot said the incident left him feeling “disappointment and disillusionment.” “I don’t understand what the thought process was here. I don’t know what the plan was. I don’t know if this was personal, for some reason. I can’t imagine why.” On Wednesday, workers did their best to tidy up. “It’s going to be a lot of physical cleaning and then inventory auditing, trying to figure out everything that’s missing, everything that needs to be replaced,” Likholyot said. It could take a day or two to make all the necessary repairs. “We’ll be fine, we’ll recover,” Likholyot continued. “We just ask for patience from our customers while we try to get everything back in shape.” With reporting from Hannah Schmidt
