Gang of masked burglars robs Dimona gas station as wave of southern Israel break-ins grows

A gang of masked burglars robbed a gas station in Dimona last night, Hebrew outlets report, the latest in a string of gas station break-ins to strike locales in southern Israel.

The three perpetrators stole the gas station’s cash register and hundreds of packs of cigarettes, says owner Shimon Chetrit to Walla.

According to him, the robbery cost him NIS 100,000 ($30,000) worth of damage.

Security camera footage shows the three men, dressed in black, grabbing a gas station employee by the shirt and bringing him off camera.

They proceed to take a sledgehammer and attempt to break open a safe behind the counter, but fail to do so. They move on to the cash register and cigarettes, placing packs into two crates.

“I worried for my employee, they put him in a bathroom stall, I found him shaking with fear,” Chetrit says to the outlet. “I worry that something will happen in the end.”

רעולי פנים שדדו הלילה תחנת דלק בדימונה. הם איימו על העובד עם מוט ברזל, ניסו לפרוץ את הכספת וכשלא הצליחו , החליטו לגנוב את הקופה ורוקנו סיגריות מהמקום ועשו נזק בשווי 100 אלף שקלים. יומיים אחרי ששדדו תחנת דלק אחרת של אותו הבעלים.⁩⁩ pic.twitter.com/y0NBsFSAPT

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Law enforcement officials tell Walla that officers from the Dimona police station arrived at the scene shortly after the incident, opened an investigation and began searching for the suspects, who they say are of a Bedouin background.

Overnight Friday to Saturday in Yeruham, a Negev town in southern Israel, another gas station belonging to Chetrit was robbed by a group of three men.

The employee on shift before dawn Saturday morning fled the gang, which was armed with knives and iron bars.

This time, the robbers managed to dislodge Chetrit’s safe by attaching a thick rope to it, tying the other end to their car and dragging it with the force of the vehicle.

Police have not yet arrested any suspects in connection to either robbery.