A shop owner has spoken of her relief that no one was injured during a raid on a delivery van.
Sandeep Kaur, of the Co-op, in Ifield Drive, Crawley, described how the van, which was delivering groceries to the shop, was targeted by thieves yesterday (Tuesday May 13).
She said: “It was a moving lorry but they managed to get in. It was outside the shop, outside the back yard. They were going to make a grocery delivery but it happened before the lorry parked.
“They managed to get the cigarettes out of the lorry.”
Mrs Kaur said she did not know how much the thieves took but believed they had deliberately targeted the cigarettes.
And she expressed relief no one was injured during the raid.
She added: “Everyone was fine and I’m happy about that. You can’t get your life back but you can get your stock back.”
Mrs Kaur said police used sniffer dogs to try to trace the thieves and also scrambled the police helicopter.
She added people had been confusing her shop with the Martin’s newsagent, in Southgate –where a member of staff was stabbed during a robbery the same day – and had feared she or her staff had been injured.
She said: “Everyone if fine but it’s the shock of it.
“The amount of things that are happening these days, you don’t know what will happen next.
“People are not working, they are trying to go for easy money.
“I’m only happy it didn’t happen in the shop or it would have been more scary.”
Witnesses should call Sussex Police on 101.