THE owner of a phone repair shop on Tranent High Street has told how more than £2,500 worth of goods were stolen when his store was robbed by a masked man with a hammer on Saturday.

Shazad Ahmad, 35, has been running PhoneXpress on Tranent High Street for a little over a month.

The shop was targeted by the robber at about 4pm on Saturday, the perpetrator stealing four mobile phones in the process.

Mr Ahmad told the Courier: “It was my colleague who was there when it happened.

“He said the guy was wearing a mask and a black hoodie and that it happened in a flash.

"He took the hammer and smashed the cabinet before running away.

“It was over in about 15 seconds when he took them and ran away.

"We have four phones missing, all new phones, worth about £2,500.”

The robber stole the phones from a glass cabinet which was located at the entrance to the shop.

Mr Ahmad said that he felt the attack was planned and his shop had been targeted.

He said: "He knew that all the fancy phones were in the first cabinet. He didn't bother with the other one, where there are cheaper phones. It was definitely planned.

"We think his friend was waiting for him in the car. The door was open for him when he ran away.”

Mr Ahmad took over the shop just over a month ago, having run a successful shop in Dundee previously.

He said that he would be installing CCTV as soon as possible.

He said: "In Dundee there is lots of crime. I did not expect this from Tranent because I thought here was better. It is sad to see it happen.

"We will definitely get CCTV installed now. But hopefully this never happens again.

"All my regular customers know about this. They have asked about it when they are in. It is good to have support.”

Michelle Mclay, owner of Little Bundle of Joy Baby Boutique, which is located across the road from Phone Express, said that she was “terrified” her business would be targeted next.

She said: “It is terrible the amount of vandalism incidents and incidents like this one that have been happening here recently.

“I close my doors every night and am terrified I will come back to the shop having been targeted.

“I wasn’t in when the incident [at PhoneXpress] happened and unfortunately our CCTV doesn’t quite see far enough to have caught what happened.

“Hopefully police find out who did it. It is very scary, though, and is a concern for businesses.”

Mike Falconer, chair of Tranent and Elphinstone Community Council, said: “It seems like it was quite an unpleasant incident.

“Unfortunately, these things can happen anywhere and I do not believe it is a reflection of Tranent as a town.

“All we at the community council can do is offer our sympathy to those involved and hope the police can get to the bottom of the incident.

“The vast majority of those living in Tranent are responsible and it is an isolated few causing these problems.

“This is not the kind of thing that Tranent should be known for. It is not what the town is.” 

Detective Constable Garry Mauran said: “Fortunately no one was injured and our enquiries are ongoing to establish the full circumstances.

“We are keen to trace the man involved and I am asking anyone who saw what happened or saw the man to get in touch.

“In addition, if you were driving in the area and have dash-cam footage that could help with our investigation then please make contact with us.”

Anyone who can help is asked to call Police Scotland on 101, quoting reference number 2293 of Saturday, July 22.