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‘Books n Bobs’ is in Taman Desa, Kuala Lumpur.
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Theft at Books n Bobs at 12:37pm today (17-2-2024)
We run Books n Bobs physical shops on a self-service concept and the shop is unmanned on the weekdays. There’s a shop assistant on weekends. We do this so that we’re able to keep the book prices as low as possible.
Today, a criminal visited our bookshop at Taman Desa at about 11:50am and walked out with a big bag of books plus a cup of coffee without paying at about 12:37pm. It was witnessed by another customer at the shop and recorded by CCTV.
We suspect that it was a pre-planned and calculated act of crime based on the following:
- The suspect came in minutes after my staff left for his lunch break. This suggests he was watching the shop for my staff to leave.
- This also suggests it is not the suspect’s first visit as he is familiar with my staff’s movement.
- The suspect came in with his own big bag that was filled to the brim when he left. Again, this shows a calculated move.
- When the suspect came into the shop, he went straight to the section where he got his books from. He did not waste time getting familiar with the shop.
- The suspect spent about 40 minutes helping himself with the books and left just before my staff came back from his lunch break. With a cup of coffee in his hand.
This is a totally disgusting act and more importantly, is disappointing behaviour. When we first opened our secondhand bookshop in Taman Desa, many people were surprised to find that it is a self-service concept and unmanned most of the time.
I am not naive, I know theft will happen and am willing to accept the risks. What I didn’t expect was that someone would perform such a “heist” on a neighbourhood secondhand bookshop.
The price of our books starts from RM1 and is mostly within the range of RM7 to RM25. Why would you, Mr Criminal, want to steal cheap books from a small local business like ours? If you need the books and do not have enough to pay for them, talk to us and work out a bulk-buying deal.
I estimate the total cost of the stolen books to be around RM150-200. What hurts more than the monetary loss is the ugliness of humanity. The absence of basic morals of certain people.
If anyone recognises the person in the photo and/or has any information about him, please PM us.
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