These days, the owner of Thorold Fish and Chips on Front St N, Sami Alhaj, feels a little more uneasy behind the counter of his restaurant.
On Oct. 30, in the wee hours of the morning, his restaurant was targeted by burglars.
“At 3:45 Sunday morning somebody smashed the front door with a rock,” says Alhaj, in an interview with ThoroldToday. “He went in and grabbed the cash register and left.”
The thief jumped into an idling car in front of the restaurant and made his escape. Luckily for Alhaj, there wasn’t much cash in the register.
“I just keep coins and change,” Alhaj says. “[I feel] lucky that I didn’t keep a lot of money.”
It’s a guessing game as to why the burglars targeted Alhaj’s restaurant.
“The Friday before it was really busy here,” says Alhaj. “I thought that maybe he saw that and he thought all the money would be here at the end of the week. Who knows? It’s a stupid thief."
Alhaj says that he was able to provide the police with footage of the incident.
"I had a security camera here but it’s not that clear," he says. "He was masked as well."
Because of the incident, the shop was forced to close its doors temporarily.
“I closed for one day,” Alhaj says. “I closed Monday and half of the day of Tuesday. I put wood on the door until I was able to replace the glass.”
Alhaj has owned Thorold Fish and Chips for the past three years, and this is the first time he has been burglarized.
He is a little shaken up by the incident, and he hopes to have some resolution soon.
“Before the incident I was more relaxed to be honest with you,” he says. “Now every day I imagine it will happen again. I really hope the police will find him.”
Watch the security footage of the incident:
