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Philibert thought his business was secured.
A Vieux-Fort businessman is now counting his losses after his business was broken into and thousands of dollars in items stolen.
Philibert Henry, the owner of the business which is located on Clarke Street, said the incident is a great loss to him, and now intends to further secure his place, which he felt was secured.
His shop is located a few metres from where young men usually loiter all day.
The incident occurred between 5 pm yesterday and 9:10 am today.
The thief or thieves made their way into the wooden structure, which had burglar bars at all its windows, by removing a few boards at its side.
“They stole my personal laptop, cell phones, children clothing, toiletries and even coca sticks….” Philibert told St. Lucia News Online.
He added that he has not made a full assessment of his losses because the police told him not to tamper with the items as yet.
“I never anticipated such an incident… It’s a great setback for me…” he grieved.
He said he thought that the burglar bars would have deterred thieves from breaking and entering his business.
”I put very strong burglar bars around my shop…” he said.
So far, no one has been arrested in connection with the incident.
Philibert is just one of the many business owners in Vieux-Fort who has suffered losses at the hands of thieves over the past few years.
Some of the victims say they did not worry to report the matter to the police because they were not convinced that anyone would have been arrested in connection with these incidents.
A few years ago, Wilbert Amsterdam, who had some items in Philibert’s shop after thieves forced him to close his, said the situation is very frustrating.
He said he had suffered losses close to $40,000 at the hands of thieves a few years ago.
Amsterdam said the thief or thieves had made their entry into his business by using a car jack to pull out a few of its wooden floor boards.
According to Amsterdam, he is not blaming the police for such a situation, but rather those people who buy stolen items from the thieves.
Earlier this year, another shop located on Clarke Street was broken into and most of its items were stolen.
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