Great Southern Seafoods and ATC Work Smart have glass window and door smashed in early morning burglary

The co-owner of an Albany family-run seafood business that was allegedly broken into twice early Friday morning said he is “shocked” and “sad” by the alleged crime. George Soumelidis said he came to open up Great Southern Seafoods, which he runs with his father Adam, about 6am on Friday to find a panel of the glass front door smashed in, coins scattered everywhere and money missing. “It’s just a shock, really, you know, just you don’t expect to see that when you walk into work in the morning,” he said. “It’s sad because you work seven days a week to try and provide a food service for people, for the public and this is just a big setback. To make that profit back will take months to catch up.” Checking the store’s CCTV footage, Mr Soumelidis realised the alleged offenders returned hours after their first midnight break-in, entering the store in disguises about 5am and wandering around for half an hour before leaving. It was one of two Centennial Park businesses broken into on Friday, according to police, with ATC Work Smart also targeted by offenders who smashed a front window but did not appear to steal anything. Albany officer-in-charge Carlos Correia said police were investigating the incidents and urged anyone with information or CCTV footage to come forward. “Our community is a tight-knit and caring one so we know that if anyone in the community comes across information that will assist our investigation and know they will let us know as soon as possible,” he said. He also encouraged businesses to take the break-ins as a warning to securely lock away valuable assets. “Businesses should take appropriate steps to secure any money away left inside and take these proactive steps,” he said. “Opportunities like this will encourage criminals to break and steal whatever they can as crime exists where opportunity exists. “Upgrading CCTV is always encouraged and we encourage business owners to have a look at their system to see if it is up to date.” Mr Soumelidis said it was the first time the fish shop had been broken into in its 21-year tenure in Albany. “Thank god they didn’t damage anything too bad, obviously apart from the window to get in, but yeah, it could have been worse,” he said.