Police are searching for a group of people who shattered the door of a vape shop in Saugus, Massachusetts, and raided the inside, making off with around $1,500-worth of merchandise.
It happened at Vapor Zone on Broadway around 6 a.m. Thursday morning. Owner Behram Agha has surveillance video showing the group smashing the glass, grabbing items and yelling at each other before running out, all in under a minute.
“They started to grab a lot of products, a case of juuuls, a few other products like t-shirts and you cannot see in the video but they broke some of my glass pieces also," he explained.
The thieves made off with somewhere between $1,200 to $1,500 worth of goods.
New video obtained Thursday night from a store nearby also shows a getaway car peeling out of the parking lot.
"It just makes me mad – why is this happening why is the youth so disoriented and doing all of these things?” Agha said.
The store is back open, but there is still damage evident.
A similar crime unfolded in Framingham Tuesday morning. Police there warned that they have seen an uptick in this type of crime.
“This time of year these types of targets definitely pick up for sure during the holiday season. But this is definitely something that has picked up in the past in the greater metro west area," said Sean Riley, deputy chief of operations with Framingham Police Department.
Agha believes the thieves may be the same group, pointing to the shoes seen in the videos.
“It looks like it’s the same kind of group that’s been targeting vape shops and small retail stores.”
Framingham police said they are reviewing the Saugus videos to see if there is a connection.