war used to
ram through

ore windows
wy Michael Becker
iNews Editor

North Vancouver
cornputer retail outlet is
being hit hard by

icro-chip hungry

es.

North Vancouver RCMP
investigators have responded
to a 1100-block Marine Drive
store five times since it opened
in March,

- ‘The latest and most brazen

theft occurred at about 5 a.m,
lon Sunday.

Thieves moved a couple of
heavy! concrete planters out of
the way on the sidewalk out-

ide ithe store and drove a.

Bates, but tke thieves were
already well on their way.
The culprits snatched a
B number of IBM portable com-
puters. ~
- A police. spokesman esti-
mated the total take at about
$25,000..:The business sus-
tained: approximately $4,000
g in damage.
“Witnesses heard a loud
ang and then heard a vehicle
# squcaling its tires,” said Const.
Catherine Galliford. .
=.) The car sped ‘off. Three
W people were in the car. The dri-
ver had a shaved head. One of
the. suspects: is described as
being a'male,'16 to:18 years of
ge, approximately 5°10", with
a stocky build: He wore a base-
q ball cap and a white T-shirt.
Another suspect. is _de-
a scribed’as being about 5’4”.

He’ wore.a baseball cap and a.

two-toned jacket with -light-
colored sleeves. , :
Earlier. this year thieves tar-.

j ected the: store June 7 atabout ,

‘two North: Vancouver
men accused of a bru-_
‘tal, triple murder. in
‘Washington State is
going nowhere fast.

Atif Ahmad Rafay, 20, and
/Glenn Sebastian Burns, 21,
are accused of planning and
carrying out-the murders of
Rafay’s parents and handi-
capped . sister on July 12,
1994.

Their lawyer Pat Beirne
said the appeal date has yet to
* be set, adding that he doesn’t
believe it will be set. before
Christmas.

Justice Minister Allan
Rock ordered ‘the ‘pair extra-

i dited to face possible death
“sentences in the United States
n July 12.

Burns was -also assaulted
ecently while under custody
tthe. Vancouver. Pretrial
ervices Centre.

—— Robert Galster, “|

rene
2s
Paar ieee cg |

afiae & 4

j

NEWS photos Terry Peters

1BM manager of asset contro! and purchasing Rick Buziak was on the scene
Monday following a theft of computers Sunday at a North Vancouver retail outlet.

4:30 a.m. and made off with
computer equipment.

Police attended the Soca- ;

tion on July 19 to find broken
glass and evidence of an
attempted theft.

On July 23 at approximate-
ly 2:36 a.m. a smash-and-grab
thief struck again.

Overnight on Sept. 4 there
was yet another attempted theft.

North Vancouver RCMP

"Const. Barry Mattock is’ with

the police detachment’s crime
prevention section. He’ keeps
track of computer: thefts in
North Vancouver. -

Mattock said the retail out-
let’s security. measures are
solid. “It’s like Fort Knox
down there, but when they
start driving cars through win-
dows, it’s getting a little
extreme.”

About a year ago the police
witnessed a major ‘growth in
thefts of computers from busi-
nesses. Said Mattock, “A num-

ber of people were. coming in’

from other cities in the Lower

Mainland and the product, we

* believed at that time, was

going out of the country.
They’re looking for chips basi-
cally.”

Other North Vancouver
businesses have been stolen
from in the same way. “Driving
a stolen vehicle through a win-
dow is nothing new. We've had
that happen before with busi-
nesses, Not a computer outlet,
where just as much product
has been stolen because of the
number of units (computers)
they have on the premises,”
Mattock said.

A car wasn’t used as a ram-
ming rod to gain entry in the
case of computer theft on Sept.
7 at business located in the
1200-block of East Keith
Road, but the loss was just as

- significant. Thieves took about

$33,000 worth of computer
equipment after a door was
pried open.

Because the North Shore is
a port community, goods pop-
ular.on the international black

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here.

“We're a seaport. We know
automobiles are stolen here

and crated up and shipped out _

of the country by boat. We
believe the same thing i is hap-
pening with computer parts
ecause of the demand,”
Mattock said.

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