Parksville’s Log Cabin General Store was broken into this week and the store’s owner said a large quantity of cigarettes and lottery tickets were stolen.
Peter Haseltine said sometime overnight on June 10 or in the early morning of June 11, someone broke in through a front window of the shop, at 1000 Resort Dr.
“Somebody carved out the wood frame of the window to get to the lock, unlocked it, took the time to take down the security bars and stole those,” Haseltine said. “The air conditioner that was mounted in the window, they disconnected that and stole that too, and threw it in the bushes… we did find it later.”
Haseltine said once the person was inside, they stole “every cigarette, cigar, rolling paper, lighters and four full trays of lottery tickets.”
They also stole the store’s float and coin rolls.
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This has been the second time the store has been robbed in the four-and-a-half years Haseltine has owned it. He said it’s discouraging seeing crime happening in the Parksville Qualicum Beach region.
Last week, two local retail stores were robbed, both at gunpoint.
On June 3, Nanoose Bay’s Arlington Inn Beer and Wine store was robbed by a masked man with a gun and two days later on June 5, the Stop and Shop in Qualicum Beach was robbed by a masked man with a gun. In both instances, Oceanside RCMP were able to obtain surveillance footage of the suspect and investigations remain ongoing.
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Cpl. Jesse Foreman of the Oceanside RCMP said the Identification Services section “was able to obtain some evidence that could lead us to a suspect” in the latest robbery.