A SMALL business, doing its best in the toughest of conditions, to serve the town of Loch and the surrounding region, has been broken into again and again, by would-be thieves.
The Shell Service Station has been broken into three times in the last five weeks, with significant damage caused to infrastructure on occasion.
Store owner Dominic Mahoney has had the business for the past eleven years and break-ins have never been so frequent.
He commented that the thieves leave behind repairs to be made, a mess to clean up and paperwork for another insurance claim, however, they don’t actually take anything.
“They’re after the cigarettes, but they can’t get to them,” said Dominic.
“The cigarette cabinets are particularly hard to get into.”
This hasn’t stopped the would be thieves from trying time after time; and after every attempted burglary, Dominic puts in additional security measures, so the thieves have to find a new way to get in.
“They broke in with a crowbar by wedging it into the door last year, and you can’t do that now, there’s a metal bar in the place of that – things like that.”
Amongst the additional repairs, security measures and clean ups, Dominic will now also be forced to spend thousands of dollars on purchasing a new cigarette cabinet.
“This one’s all completely bashed up. I’ll have to get a new one with a new lock and stuff. It’s dodgy to shut the rollers. I haven’t bought that yet. That’s about $3000.”
Dominic believes the thieves are after the cigarettes to sell on at a reduced price – because they are now so expensive with additional government taxes.
From March 2015 to March 2025, the excise on factory-made cigarettes increased threefold, and smokers now pay $1.40 more per stick than ten years ago.
Additional tobacco excises were announced in the 2023–24 Federal budget where the excise rates for all tobacco products are to be increased by five per cent annually in addition to routine indexation, from September 1, 2023 to September 1, 2025.
As of March 2025, the excise payable on a budget pack of 20 cigarettes was $28.06 plus GST of $3.45 making up about 83.0 per cent of tax or $31.51 on an advertised packet selling for $37.95.
Dominic believes the thieves weren’t from the area as he doesn’t stock enough cigarettes to make it worth their while.
“For two of them, they definitely weren’t from here. I could tell that they weren’t – they didn’t do things the way they would do them if they’d been inside the shop.”
While the store owner has footage of the thieves’ cars, they didn’t have number plates, or the identity of the thieves, so it limits what the police can do.
If anyone has any information please contact Crimestoppers 1800 333 00.
