A Surrey business owner is speaking out after being targeted by thieves with all the Christmas spirit of Ebenezer Scrooge.
The target was Hunter’s Garden Centre at 152 Street and 72 Avenue. The loot: 50 noble fir Christmas trees worth around $2,000.
Ron Hunter, who owns the nursery, said the theft happened early Wednesday morning.
Hunter believes whoever stole the trees cased his business and carefully planned the operation.
“I think these guys scouted us out and they knew what they were faced with and how to go about doing it,” he said.
Hunter said the thieves made short work of the operation, loading the trees up in about an hour. He estimated there must have been about four people involved to get the work done so quickly.
And while Hunter has reported the theft to the Surrey RCMP, he said the surveillance video isn’t great.
“You can’t tell what they’re doing, they’ve all got hoodies and ball caps on and you just can’t identify them. And we don’t have video of the truck so we can’t identify the truck.”
As for what the Christmas tree bandits will be doing with their haul, Hunter theorized there could be a black market for the trees.
“We think so, yeah,” he said. “Either that, or they’ve got a Christmas tree lot set up and they’re going to sell them themselves. Around $2,000 worth of Christmas trees went missing last night.”
In the meantime, Hunter is asking people to contact police if they get an offer for a cheap six to eight-foot tall noble fir.