A Calgary cannabis store owner watched his inventory go out his store’s front door on Thursday, but not in the way he’d imagined.
“Once they got in, they practically grabbed as much product as possible,” Omkara Cannabis owner Shawn Bali told Global News. “They grabbed the garbage bags from my lunch room, dumped everything in there and then just headed out.”
Security camera footage shows a trio entering Omkara by breaking into the storefront shutters, after not being able to get into the back door, early Thursday morning.
Once they got into the store, they entered the safe used to store cannabis. Safes are mandated by AGLC for secure cannabis storage.
“It seems like they have probably done this before because, I have no idea how they got through (the safe),” Bali said, noting they targeted only one type of product.
“They took all cannabis products. They didn’t even take a single accessory — anything that was out in the retail area front area they didn’t even touch.”
Bali estimates the apparent thieves caused his store between $10,000 to $15,000 in damages and lost product. Police are investigating the incident.
“They did try going to the till, but the till had no money in it.”
According to the Calgary Police Service, cannabis store robberies have been trending up in the past year and a half. In 2021, a total of 29 cannabis store robberies were reported. To date in 2022, 21 store robberies have been reported to police.
Doug King, justice studies professor at Mount Royal University, said the ability of selling cannabis on the black market makes cannabis stores an enticing target.
“In the bigger frame of the schemes, it’s largely driven by what can you sell on the street and get rid of quite quickly,” King said.
He noted that with the popularity of credit and debit card use, stores aren’t likely to keep much cash on premises.
King said the ability of cannabis stores to remove coverings from their windows will help staff “to look through the window and things like that will give at least the people who work in the stores a little bit more comfort, that they have more of an understanding of what’s happening outside these stores.”
But the justice studies professor said a better method of preventing robberies would be with active deterrents like hiring security officers.
“The consequence of that is that it’s going to cost more. And who has to bear that cost is the shop owner,” King said.
Bali said he’s upping his security measures now, including security bars on his front windows, removing decals on those front windows to improve visibility, and planting tracking devices in dummy packages in storage and on display.
He hopes other cannabis stores also step up their prevention measures.
“If we don’t, it’s going to keep on continuing. It seems like it’s becoming a routine now, either daytime or nighttime.”
— With files from Craig Momney, Global News