After four incidents, bulletproof glass that was broken anyway, an insurance company that cut him off, 100,000 back and finally an arrest of the perpetrators, Mateo Lozano hopes the nightmare month will finally be over. The small 1TP8 shop in Karlskrona suffered four burglaries in one month.
As Vejpkollen written about previously young juice maker Mateo Lozano is the man behind uVape, with both e-commerce and a physical store. A successful career as a photographer was ruined by the COVID-19 pandemic, but when the only e-cig shop in Karlskrona closed down, Mateo Lozano saw his chance and invested his savings in a new business. The e-juice production, which had previously been a hobby, became a business and later the only physical vejpshop in southeast Sweden, a small shop in central Karlskrona.
14-year-old after disposable weapons
The store opened with a bang in 2021, with attention in the local media and joy among Karlskrona's small circle of vejpare. So far, so good. But now, after two years, it's clear that all is not well. In just one month, the store has been hit by burglaries, in clusters, a total of four broken windows and several thefts.
- For a month it has been very hard. We've had four incidents, with two real break-ins and two more attempts," Mateo Lozano told Vejpkollen.
The loot has mostly consisted of disposable weapons, which are probably then sold on illegally.
- The first attempt was a boy who was only 14 years old. He was caught before he entered the store. The police are wondering if he was sent by others because he is not of age.
Your shop is still opposite the police station in Karlskrona?
- It is behind the police station, but yes. They don't have a clear view of the store, but they should have heard the bangs anyway. They've gotten in by breaking windows every time. The fourth time, I had put in bulletproof glass, but they still managed to break it.
No insurance after two burglaries
All in all, it has cost Matteo around SEK 100,000 in losses, counting both goods and glass costs. The insurance helped with the first break-in, but then they said stop.
-When I initially took out the insurance, they were calm. But after two burglaries, I was suspended because they thought the risk was too high. So it has been an extremely difficult and costly month.
"Bigger holes"
Investing your own savings and running a specialist shop in a small town like Karlskrona is perhaps not the most lucrative job there is, if Matteo is to be believed. "Even if things turn around, it's clear that a setback like this pokes holes.
- If you don't aim to become a multi-millionaire, you can. But it would probably be easier if the city was a bit bigger.
After the fourth burglary, the perpetrators were finally caught, and Mateo hopes for a quieter summer ahead.
- They've gone there and I've now fixed both the bars and Securitas, so I hope and believe that it will be calm now, says Mateo Lozano.
It's a good thing you're not sick of it. It was bad enough that you couldn't make your own snus. I started snus when I was 10 years old, have been snusing for 50 years. I have dementia, snus is one of the last gold grains I have left in life 😭
Let the snus be as they are.Those who sit in the EU are not healthy any of them they seem like 🤬 grab all the drug dealers instead and let the snusers mind their own business