Burglars Plunder Alec Bradley Warehouse

[OZCUBAN]

Burglars Plunder Alec Bradley Warehouse

David Savona

Posted: September 17, 2013

A group of masked men broke into the Hollywood, Florida, warehouse where Alec Bradley Cigars stores its inventory, making off with more than half a million dollars worth of the company's finest cigars.

The burglars cut a hole through the roof of the building using a high-powered saw, said Alan Rubin, owner of Alec Bradley, and gained access to the humidified warehouse. Using forklifts, they moved cases of cigars out to a stolen truck and made away with the merchandise, worth approximately $300,000 at wholesale, or nearly $600,000 at the retail level.

The break-in occurred early on the morning of September 7, a Saturday. Rubin initially kept the incident quiet during the search for the criminals, who remain at large. "We didn't want to say anything because of the investigation," Rubin toldCigar Aficionado. He changed his mind, he said, when he heard of people in the northeast United States being approached with offers of buying Alec Bradley cigars at a steep discount.

Among the items taken were cigars packed in bundles that are normally packed in boxes. "We don't sell Prensado in bundles," said Rubin. But the company puts samples of Prensado in bundles for events. "They stole bundles of a lot of our boxed product," he said.

Rubin, who provided Cigar Aficionado with several photographs of the intruders taken by security cameras, said the theft would temporarily impact his supplies. The burglars, who he called well-organized, targeted some of his most in-demand products, including Alec Bradley Prensado, Nica Puro, Black Market and Alec Bradley Connecticut. Rubin said he and his workers were still going through the inventory to get a precise account of what was stolen.

This isn't the first time cigar warehouses have been targets of crime. As recently as July, a group of six burglars broke into the Tamarac, Florida, warehouse of Florida Distributors Inc. and made off with about $250,000 worth of Dutch Masters machine-made cigars, according to NBC news. They also went through the roof, and have not been apprehended.

The men responsible for the Alec Bradley burglary remain at large and are believed to be trying to sell the stolen merchandise in the northeast. Rubin urged anyone who is approached with offers of Alec Bradley cigars to call local authorities.

[oliverdst]

Poor burglars.

[El Presidente]

Condolences to Rubin.

He works too hard for this crap to occur. I hope he is well insured and can resume supply in short time.

[riazp]

I saw this on CA...Damn shame for him and his company, he loves the cigar business and puts in alot of work into it. I remember a really good article on him in the cigar journal a few years back. Hopefully they will catch the people responsible

[dicko]

That's a shame to hear. I hope the business can get up and running an the responsible parties are held to account. I don't mind the Alex Bradley cigars, tasty.

[mk05]

home depot sells kindling and firewood as well.

[finecigar]

What a bummer! Rarely have heard of many cigar theft at that scale. Sounds like these bastards were pretty well planned out. I'm sure they'll catch them, lets hope!

[Puros Y Vino]

It looks like the AB Black Markets are actually going to turn up on the "Black Market" Marketing Ploy? Probably not. Crappy thing to have happened and definitely an inside job. The crooks knew where to cut the hole to drop in safely, what to grab, where to exit, etc.

It makes me wonder. If thieves are starting to pilfer cigars, that could be a sign of high demand in the market. Could a second "cigar boom" be around the corner?

[Larsy]

Very suspicious indeed. A shame none the less

[Profmd]

Poor burglars.

Nice response.

[canadianbeaver]

AB is consistently in top 10 annually in CA's list and they are huge. A strategic hit no doubt. I agree... an inside or at least knowledgeable job. And if it was here... awful.

[Squarehead]

Just bought a box(Family Blend BX2) on friday Sept.13.But that deal was announced much prior to the theft.I feel sorry for the Alec Bradley business.

[jangoman88]

they said a similar break in that someone else mentioned in a previous post, sounds like the same guys

[brooklyn]

String of other burglaries like this

However, this is not the average jewelry or electronics heists.

[Orion21]

Sounds like some cigar guys whose tastes are a little outside their budget . . .

[canadianbeaver]

You know how when guys steal cars and within hours they are in shipping containers heading off shore? Wouldn't it make more sense that the stock would be headed that way?

[Orion21]

Or being re-banded as Cohiba

[PaulP]

My questions are, why is there no alarm, and why can't they pay $10 an hour to hire a security gaurd? Sounds like a pretty Mickey Mouse storage facility to me.

Burglars disabled the alarm system. Sounds like an inside job.

[Squarehead]

I would think that coming through the roof and then bypassing the alarm makes more sense to me than breaking in through the door and risk for the alarm to go off.Somebody must have had knowledge of the place where to get it and where to look for the loot.

[SMQQKIN]

Sad story for AB. Hope they catch the thieves.

However, now I know why the price of Dutch Masters went up....