Using a stolen truck, a pallet jack and an angle grinder, thieves broke into the Cigge warehouse. They got away with 100,000 disposable guns worth €4 million.
"They are probably sold on the black market by now," says Viktor Bryn-Jensen, Legal Manager at Eurobrand Distribution and Cigge.
At the end of February, thieves used a stolen mini-truck and an angle grinder to break into the Cigges chain of stores in Borlänge. Despite the alarm being raised, the thieves were able to get four pallets of e-cigarettes (disposable models).
Various information on the value of the stolen goods is circulating in the media. However, according to Viktor Bryn-Jensen these are one-off models with a purchase value of EUR 4 million.
"More precisely, it's about 100,000 disposable IVGs that Eurobrands distributes to Direkten and Preem, among others." says Viktor Bryn-Jensen.
Selling them for half the price
According to police information to Falu Kuriren some DNA evidence of the thieves involved in the burglary has been recovered. However, no 100 000 disposable models have been found. Viktor Bryn-Jensen believe that most of them have been sold or taken out of the country by now.
"We have received some calls from dealers who have been contacted by people who want to sell IVG to them for half the price, without a receipt. So while I still think most of it was shipped out of the country, it seems that someone is also trying to sell them illegally here in Sweden. But there's no way to prove anything, and the people trying to peddle them are very difficult to track down" says Viktor Bryn-Jensen to Vejpkollen.
Many thefts over the years
Eurobrands and Cigge have stores in Borlänge, Västerås, Örebro, Uppsala and Linköping and are Sweden's largest retailer of e-cigarettes. The company became part of the Norwegian harm reduction group Norse Impact just last year. Viktor Bryn-Jensen notes that there have been many thefts and burglaries since the first store opened almost 10 years ago.
"Yes, we've probably had nearly ten burglaries over the years. But this is by far the biggest one." says Viktor Bryn-Jensen to Vejpkollen.
How will this affect you financially?
"Of course we feel it. E-cigarettes are counted as tobacco products and that means we get a standard value instead of the real value via the insurance. Fortunately, it's about our back-up stock, so end customers are not affected to any great extent" says Viktor Bryn-Jensen
Must be registered
Disposable models, like all other variants of e-cigarettes and e-liquid, must be registered in Sweden six months before sales begin. Once a product is registered, any shop with an approved chemical license and notification to the municipality can sell the products.
