James Thomsen was cleaning up the mess left from a pair of burglars until late this afternoon.

(ASHLEY LEGASSIC / iNFOnews.ca)

"THEY DID JUST ENOUGH TO MAKE A MESS AND CAUSE SOME GRIEF."

KAMLOOPS - A local business owner is feeling grateful for his neighbour's security system today, after a smash and grab was cut short.

Derek Johnson woke up to multiple text messages from his security company around 2:16 this morning, July 6. The motion detectors inside All Aboard Games on Lansdowne Street had gone off.

"When I get multiple texts it means someone is still in there," Johnson explained.

The alarm company is different from others, calling the local police detachment before the owner. Johnson immediately called the man who owns the business next door, Kamloops Cigar and Vape Shop.

By the time Johnson and James Thomsen got to their stores, four police cars were already there. The front door to the cigar shop was smashed in, a display case destroyed and several items missing.

Johnson showed police the surveillance footage he had access to on his phone, and by the time they got inside his shop to go on his computer, police already had the suspects.

Thomsen points out things could have been worse.

"I'm really lucky he has that good of a security system," Thomsen said. "They did just enough to make a mess and cause some grief."

Thomsen said the list of missing items that he knows of so far totals up to $3,000 and includes specialty cigars, bongs, lighters, batteries and grinders.

Johnson says he has struggled with vandalism and attempted break-ins in the past. Thomsen just moved his shop to Lansdowne Street in February after spending more than five years on Seymour Street.

An 18-year-old woman and 35-year-old man have been arrested in connection to the break-in.

Derek Johnson says he wanted to be secured by this particular system before it was even available in Kamloops.

(ASHLEY LEGASSIC / iNFOnews.ca)

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