Moment masked Midlothian thieves clamber over counter during raid on local shop

Shocking footage shows the moment a pair of mindless crooks[1] break into a much-loved Midlothian post office, leaving owners "heartbroken". The pair are shown rushing into the well-known community shop[2] and post office in Loanhead, named The Paper Rack, on Tuesday night. While covering their faces with balaclavas[3], one of the attempted thieves hurls himself over the counter and begins to rummage around, while the other holds up the torch on his phone to light up the darkened premises.

It is unclear what exactly the two were looking for as they haphazardly check different areas of the counter before making off with a sack. The man who hopped over in search of something valuable initially appears to try to break the alcohol display, but then turns his attention elsewhere, including the cash register. According to the owners, the currently unknown pair were quickly scared off by an alarm and quickly scurried out of the shop.

Join Edinburgh Live's Whatsapp Community here[6] and get the latest news sent straight to your messages. Writing on Facebook and attaching a screenshot of one of the masked offenders, one of the owners said: "It is with great sadness that we have to say this but we have been broken in to at 11.50pm from this absolutely vile and scummy rat and his accomplice.

"We unfortunately will not be able to open until the police and forensic team have finished with their enquires. Due to the alarms being triggered which done a very good job alerting the police and neighbours they were in and gone back out in 30 seconds.

"Thankfully they never got away with anything valuable. We will post all clear pics from CCTV very soon and please can everyone share these images so they can be caught swiftly anyone who knows who they are please dm us directly." Sign up for Edinburgh Live newsletters[7] for more headlines straight to your inbox

"I am very heartbroken because we aim to be here for everyone and this has truly hurt us, we will be back in full strength in a day or so."

The owners of The Paper Rack have given Edinburgh Live permission to share the footage in the hope that members of the public will be able to help to identify the culprits. After being alerted to the scene, officers have also begun to search for the crooks and say their investigation is at an early stage. A Police Scotland spokesperson said: "We received a report of a break-in to a premises on The Loan, Loanhead, around 11.55pm on Tuesday, 14 November, 2023.

Enquiries are at an early stage and ongoing."

References

1. ^ mindless crooks (www.edinburghlive.co.uk)
2. ^ well-known community shop (www.edinburghlive.co.uk)
3. ^ faces with balaclavas (www.edinburghlive.co.uk)
4. ^ Healthy Edinburgh dad's morning tiredness turned out to be incurable rare disease (www.edinburghlive.co.uk)
5. ^ Edinburgh footballer leapt from moving van during cop chase leaving passenger inside to crash (www.edinburghlive.co.uk)
6. ^ Edinburgh Live's Whatsapp Community here (chat.whatsapp.com)
7. ^ Edinburgh Live newsletters (www.edinburghlive.co.uk)