A brave shop owner has told how he raced into the street brandishing a golf club after masked raiders targeted his convenience store in a Tayside village.
Zubair Aslam was dressed in just a pair of pyjama bottoms when he rushed out to try to confront the thieves, who made off with around £3,000 of cigarettes and alcohol from the Nisa store in Dunning.
He was too late to stop the five men, who fled from the scene in a dark-coloured Ford Kuga.
Mr Aslam has released CCTV which shows the masked men breaking down the door before they left with a heavy-duty builder’s bag filled with stolen goods.
The raiders are then seen wrestling the haul into the boot of the vehicle.
Mr Aslam, who lives above the store with his wife Zara and their three children, said they initially thought the break in was a noisy delivery man before realising they had been the target of a “professional” raid.
He said: “I heard a noise at 3am and thought it was our roll man or our newspaper man because they normally come around that time. But then I thought they were making too much noise and after that our alarm went off.
“I looked outside and saw a car with all its doors open and five men with balaclavas ran out of the shop. I came down with a golf club but they were already away.
“They were in and out in 53 seconds – they were very organised. They made off with about £3,000 of cigarettes and six bottles of vodka.”
He added that the family now plan to beef up security at the store.
“We’ll need a new door and we’ll be getting shutters,” he said. “We didn’t need them before because we felt so safe.
“It’s not about the money, it’s about someone coming into your property. It’s scary.”
Mr Aslam also paid tribute to members of the community for the way they had rallied round the family in the hours after the raid.
A spokeswoman for Police Scotland said: “We are investigating a break-in to Dunning Post Office at 3am today. Tobacco and alcohol was stolen.
“We are keen to trace five men who made off in a Ford Kuga.”
Anyone with information is asked to contact Police Scotland on 101.
