Trading Haus, Vanuatu Butchery robbed

Bradburn believes the people who robbed his shop are from a well-organized gang because they destroyed the Internet connection of the surveillance cameras before entering the building, so there is no footage. He questioned how one could know the location of the transmitter and the fact that the back gate is closed but never locked, as well as there was no security on duty that night.

A really emotional Bradburn has questioned family values and Christian principles, as Vanuatu’s position as a Christian country has always been widely applauded by Ni-Vanuatu. He said calling Vanuatu a paradise or the happiest place on earth, is an overstatement because incidents like this tell a different story.

Bradburn says there are people out there who know the thieves and have knowledge of what happened, but because of Vanuatu’s closely-knit family culture, many will claim they don’t know anything.

The businessman explained that he is the sole agent selling Wettie diving glasses, snorkels and fishing guns in the country, so he is appealing to members of the public to come forward if anyone tries to sell them any Wettie products.

Bradburn says he cannot continue to order new goods, pay business tax, Vanuatu National Provident Fund contributions and salary for Ni-Vanuatu if this continues. As an investor he invests a lot of money in the country and supports the economy.

Stolen items include: 8 fishing guns, 5 snorkels, 3 diving masks, 2 mobile phones, 4 diving fins, 2 diving torches, 1 spear, 1 fishing parachute net, 2 life jackets, a darts set, and an electric shaving set along with some cash left in the registry. Bradburn says the total value of stolen items is approximately VT500, 000.

Vanuatu Butchery, which uses the same building, was also robbed. An employee, Sandy Zheng, said the thieves also broke in through the back door and stole cigarettes, their computer, some cash and Vodafone and Digicel cards.

Sandy said the thieves destroyed their camera surveillance as well.

She said this incident was unexpected and shocking to her and now she doesn’t feel that the business is safe.

The police inspector who attended both crime scenes said in 2022, the number of robberies of businesses which sell valuable goods has escalated and when suspects are caught, they are usually unemployed teenagers.