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The owner of a Detroit clothing store said it took crooks only five minutes to steal $90,000 in merchandise from his place of business in a predawn heist Monday, WDIV-TV reported.
“When I get here, the police was already here, but the damage has already been done," Waheed Ahmed, owner of J-Bees on Gratiot Avenue for 26 years, told the station. "Merchandise was gone."
'You know, when you’re in the community, you’re trying to bring good brands to the community, try to bring good quality things to the community, and you build a relationship with certain customers. So it’s like, what you gonna do? You gonna shut it down, or you gonna stay open?'
Ahmed, 57, told WDIV that security video showed the crooks arriving in a white minivan and a black pickup truck at 4:49 a.m.
At least a dozen individuals quickly exited the minivan while another group got out of the pickup, the station said.
By 4:53 a.m., the crooks smashed a window and door, forced open the storefront gate, and went inside, WDIV reported, adding that the crew emptied tables and shelves, destroyed mannequins, and broke into a back office.
The thieves were gone by 4:56 a.m., the station said — just five minutes to steal an estimated $90,000 worth of clothing, the station said.
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“They moved quick. They had an idea what they wanted," Dee, the store’s general manager for the last 15 years, told WDIV.
Dee added to the station that “they had, like, 12 to 15 guys. This is a routine. This is probably something that they do on the daily.”
WDIV noted that this incident is the second time this year that the store had been robbed in such a brutal fashion.
“I feel like someone came in and scoped the store out,” Dee added to the station. “They took a look around and seen where everything was at, where everything was set up — like the high-end merchandise — and that’s what they went after."
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Dee said that robberies like this are tiresome, and he feels the store needs more security and better protection with the help of Detroit police.
Both Ahmed and his general manager are frustrated with this type of crime, as they want to keep businesses like this in the neighborhood.
“You know, when you’re in the community, you’re trying to bring good brands to the community, try to bring good quality things to the community, and you build a relationship with certain customers,” Dee noted to the station. “So it’s like, what you gonna do? You gonna shut it down, or you gonna stay open?”
Ahmed added to WDIV that "I love this neighborhood. It’s been 26 years, so I am seeing a third generation in my place, so I get connected with the third generation.”
But the crime is taking a toll on him, too.
“I really enjoy doing business with them,” Ahmed noted to the station. “But I say it’s getting frustrating.”
Detroit police detectives arrived Monday afternoon to gather information about the robbery, WDIV said.
Between the damage and the stolen merchandise, Ahmed told the station that even with insurance, he could be looking at a total loss of at least $200,000.
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Hundreds of residents of Dearborn, Michigan, gather outside of the Dearborn police department on May 15, 2021. Photo by SETH HERALD/AFP via Getty Images
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