Audacious Burglar Robs Chemist’s Shop

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 674, 28 May 1929, Page 1

Audacious Burglar Robs Chemist’s Shop

POLICEMEN ON BEAT DRUGS AND MONEY STOLEN Smashing in a thick glass door with a heavy instrument, a thief entered the premises of Mr. Ralph Sanft, chemist, 239 Upper Symonds Street, between 10.30 and 11.30 last evening and stole goods valued at £3O and £4 odd in silver and copper. “A certain chemical preparation was evidently the aim of the thief,” said Mr. Sanft this morning. “He cleaned up every particle of it we had in stock. The value of that preparation alone was £2S 10s. The taking of the money was a secondary consideration.” i A. jstg|| The street is regularly patrolled by the police on beat. At 10.20 p.m. a constable passed the shop and flashed his torch as usual. The shop was then untouched. At 11.20 p.m. the constable saw a gaping hole in the glass which forms the upper half of the door. The lock had been turned from the inside through the hole in the glass. Coppers were scattered over the floor behind the counter. The till had been robbed of about £4 in silver and copper, but over £2O in sovereigns in a small metal-topped drawer in the till escaped the notice of the thief. No attempt had been made on the safe which stands in the middle of the floor facing the door through which it can be seen. The force used to break the glass was much more than would be necessary for a plate glass window. The glass was more than half an inch thick and held by a wooden beading. About 10.30 p.m. a man living upstairs heard a crash and a bump, and started downstairs to investigate, blit, concluding that Mr. Sanft was working in the shop and had dropped a bottle, returned to bed. The police have definite suspicions as to the man responsible for the robbery, the particular drug stolen lending a clue.