Steve Molison did what he was supposed to.
The night before an early job, the Vancouver carpenter put his skill saw, his electric planer, an undercut saw, a grinder and a roofing gun in his truck and locked it near English Bay.
Coverage of break-ins in Vancouver on Globalnews.ca:
When he checked the truck in the morning there was shattered glass — and the tools had gone missing sometime overnight.
And where should they turn up, but a market in the Downtown Eastside, where no one would tell him who was selling them.
“When I went in and saw my stuff there, I said whose was this, who was selling there, who was selling there, and nobody knew anything,” Molison told Global News.
READ MORE: Vancouver police arrest four people in connection with Burnaby break-ins
The Downtown Eastside market bans the sale of certain goods including power tools — but Global News nevertheless spotted a few during a visit.
Selling stolen items is prohibited at the market, said manager Sarah Blyth.
“We have many staff that go through and they’re looking for things all the time. As you can see when you walk through, the majority of the stuff is recycled stuff,” she said.
Most of the items at the Downtown Eastside market come from public donations, management added.
That’s of little consolation to Molison, who said his livelihood was taken in “one swoop.”
But he also understands that addiction is driving people into new areas of the city.
“The only reason they’re doing all this is to get the drugs, and they’re addicted,” Molison said.
There’s concern in the region that break-and-enters are growing right alongside the opioid crisis.
It’s out of concern about break-ins that the province and the RCMP launched a “Lock It or Looted” campaign on Thursday, encouraging people to secure their valuables.
There’s just one thing: Molison’s truck was locked.
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