A burglary has been reported at the family-run electronics shop RADTEK.
It is believed that £2,000 of goods were stolen from the Cropwell Road shop.
The break-in occurred on the evening of Tuesday 31 August.
Thieves forcefully broke into the property, damaging its front door and stealing items both on display for sale and awaiting repair.
Engineer and owner Matt Fraser-Smith, speaking exclusively to Nottingham Post, said: “Thieves aren’t renowned for being the most intelligent bunch. So if they see a smartphone, they know what it is and they know they can sell it.
“What they don’t know is that these devices are regularly locked down to an iCloud account so you can track them if they turn it on.
“So if these muppets turn it on we’ll know exactly where they are.
“Samsungs, though, which we had for sale, weren’t locked to any account so those are gone.”
Cropwell Road in Radcliffe on Trent
The shop which specialises in tech devices including mobile phones and laptops stores goods in their branch for sale as well as items awaiting repair.
Matt received a call from his dad while the store was unattended altering him to get to RADTEK urgently.
Matt travelled from Bingham to find “teenagers and adults who huddled around the shop” attempting to assist following the incident.
Matt said: “My absolute concern was ‘have they [the thieves] nicked any of the customer items?’
“If they had that would be absolutely catastrophic.
“As it turns out, the only things they did nick, customer-wise, was an old laptop, and it was a very liquid-damaged Apple laptop, and an older PC laptop.
“Even without the insurance we can try to compensate for [the items].”
It is thought that a fence support brick was used to enter the premises via its tempered and laminated glass door.
RADTEK remains open and its door has been secured since the incident.
The team at the family-run shop plan to upgrade the security measures at the shop following the incident.
Matt said: “We are also going to make sure the devices we have in the window are turned on so their tracking works.
“They were all turned off which meant we could not track them, which is a damn shame. It is what it is.”
Nottinghamshire Police have release an image of a van driving from the scene they believe was involved in the burglary.
A passer-by witnessed two people break into the Cropwell Road shop and load goods into a vehicle.
The van allegedly involved in the incident is a white transit-style van with a distinctive blue stripe.
Nottinghamshire Police Neighbourhood Inspector Rob Lawton, speaking exclusively to Nottingham Post said: “It’s appalling to hear of a local business being targeted in this way.
“Many shops are not able to sustain a financial blow on this scale having been closed for so long during the various lockdowns.
“We will do everything to track down the offenders and are carrying out thorough enquiries.
“We are appealing to anyone who might recognise the van in this picture and to anyone in the local area who saw or heard anything suspicious.”
Police urge anyone with information relating to the incident to call the police on 101 and quote 750 of August 31.
Alternatively, Crimestoppers can be contacted anonymously by calling 0800 555 111.
