Multiple Portland businesses hit during string of burglaries

PORTLAND Ore. (KPTV) - A Portland small business is cautioning others following a string of early morning burglaries Thursday off NE Sandy Boulevard.

Portland police say it appears three businesses were victimized, including Airlink, an electronics store.

Minh Le, who owns the store, says thieves seem to be all over the place.

“They are like an octopus,” he described. “They have more hands than we have.”

Surveillance video captures two people browsing his shelves with flashlights. Le says he became aware of the burglary when he showed up for work and learned from the neighboring Pho restaurant that they’d been hit first.

“For a small business,” he said, “every dime counts. So, it’s a big hit.”

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Le says the burglary happened around 5 a.m., where video documents the thieves searching every inch of the store.

“They’re making sure that we’re not hiding anything, and if we were to hide anything, they’d just take them. I get used to it because we’ve been in business for over 15 years.”

Le says this is the eighth time that he’s been a victim of theft since opening. However, he calls this time one of the worst. He says at first glance, he estimates $10,000 worth of uninsured merchandise was stolen, but “not because I didn’t want to buy insurance.”

Le says phone and electronics stores often can’t receive insurance plans, due to them being labeled high-risk by companies.

“There’s a lot of break-ins, stealing, all kinds of stuff.”

Le hopes someone recognizes one of the thieves and they’re taken off the streets, or that enough attention is brought to it to stop the burglars from stealing from another small business like his.

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