By Jennifer Hoegg
Thieves made off with cigarettes, a storeowner estimates to be worth more than $75,000, during an early morning robbery Monday in Kentville.
"Tobacco is big money," Jeff Gee said. "The government has created a monster with the tax on tobacco. There is no excuse for stealing, though. I have no tolerance for a thief."
Sometime around 3 a.m. Dec. 5, culprits disabled the alarm system, broke a hefty deadbolt and cleaned Mader's Tobacco out of cartons of cigarettes, cash, lottery tickets and fine tobacco.
Jeff Gee arrived at work just before 8 a.m. to find two Kentville police officers outside the door.
"My heart dropped," he said.
"They knew what they wanted," Gee said, adding he thinks the thieves thoroughly cased the store. "I don't know how they got past the door."
In 37 years of business, Gee and his father Bob said there have been attempts, but no successful break-ins. Now the Gees have ransacked basement storage room and a great deal of paperwork to do.
"It was a pretty brazen move in downtown Kentville, people go by at all hours," Jeff said. "I feel very violated."
It was a pretty brazen move in downtown Kentville, people go by at all hours. - Jeff Gee
Bob concurred, especially with the police station and a 24-hour Tim Hortons just a few hundred metres away.
The door was repaired in the afternoon while police, insurance and alarm system company representatives were in and out. After a quick trip to Halifax to restock, the Gees were back in business.
"It would be nice if instead of a life of crime, they got out and earned a living rather than have the rest of us pay," Bob said.
"I have a gut feeling they will be caught," his son added.
The Gees were scheduled to be in court Dec. 6, as part of their ongoing constitutional challenge of Nova Scotia's tobacco advertising policies.
Anyone with any information regarding this crime are asked to contact the Kentville Police Service at 678-3378 or your local law enforcement agency.
