A pair of thieves brandished a knife in the face of a Langley liquor store clerk who tried to stop them from walking off with a $4,800 bottle of cognac last week.
Video shows the pair of men walking briskly through the Brookswood Liquor Store during the theft, which took place just before 6 p.m. on Friday, April 5.
The thieves went straight for that specific bottle, store owner Todd Arbuthnot said, grabbing a step stool staff used for stocking shelves.
One of the men, wearing a ball cap and sunglasses, reached into a cabinet that was about eight feet off the floor, and grabbed a single bottle.
The bottle was Remy Martin Grande Champagne Louis XIII, a high-end cognac aged in oak casks and sold in individually numbered decanters.
The video then shows both men moving quickly towards the store’s exit.
A staff member tried to get in the way of the man carrying the Remy Martin, and the suspect quickly pulled out a knife, brandishing it at head-height for a moment. The clerk backed away out of frame, and the two men left the store.
Store owner Todd Arbuthnot said a third person was acting as a getaway driver, in what is now believed to have been a stolen car.
Arbuthnot said the staffer involved was okay, but obviously shaken up after the incident.
“It’s not a typical theft,” he said. “It’s got very little value, unless someone ordered it.”
He’s been given a possible name of one of the suspects via someone who saw an image on social media, and has passed that long to the police.
According to Sgt. Joe Leeson of the Langley RCMP, no one was hurt in the robbery. RCMP were looking for suspects.
Arbuthnot said it isn’t worth making an insurance claim for the theft, because it’s less than his deductible.
“I’m just out of pocket that money,” he said.
Anyone with information can contact the Langley RCMP at 604-532-3200, or to leave an anonymous tip, call CrimeStoppers at 1-800-222-8477 (TIPS).
Ken Dennis, a past Greater Langley Chamber of Commerce president whose company works with the liquor store on IT, provided the video and stills with permission of the store to the Langley Advance Times.
Persons accused of a crime are considered innocent until convicted in a court of law.
