Due to lightning-fast action by Yvonne Schaafstra, owner of the DA drugstore in Hapert, a brutal burglary in her business failed on Friday night. Yvonne heard the alarm go off, didn’t hesitate for a moment and immediately ran outside. She also rounded up the rest of her family to chase the burglars away. “A kind of primal force emerged.”
The damage is still extensive on Saturday morning: a frame has been dislodged, the window is shattered on the floor and expensive perfumes are in shopping bags on the floor. Burglars wanted to take those bags, but this was not possible due to the intervention of Yvonne and her family. She tells how she quickly took action after the alarm went off: “I heard a dull bang and then a loud alarm. I went downstairs and saw that it was wrong. I immediately ran outside,” says Yvonne, who lives next to the store.
According to Yvonne, the two burglars had not expected to be disturbed after thirty seconds. “I shouted very loudly so that everyone woke up and came outside. My husband came, my children and my son-in-law. One ran after the thieves, the other pulled the key out of the getaway car and someone else took the things. This is how we managed to limit the damage,” Yvonne says lightly.
The two burglars hit the window with a sledgehammer. The strong glass did not break immediately, but eventually the entire window fell out of the rebate. This allowed them to go inside to put expensive perfumes in shopping bags. According to Yvonne, the perfumes that were snatched from the shelves were severely damaged. Together with the broken frame, the total damage is at least thousands of euros, she estimates on the morning after the squat.
Watch the images from Friday night here:
Yvonne is very disappointed about it, but shows herself to be combative. “It’s especially sad that it has to happen. Just go to work during the day! It’s nice that I wasn’t alone.” She cleaned up the place on Saturday morning, the broken frame was boarded up. Now the business is open again. “They didn’t count on the fact that someone would be outside waiting for them after thirty seconds. They won’t come back,” says the drugstore owner.
It is not the first time that burglars have struck in Yvonne’s business. In 2016, she also managed to snatch the loot from thieves.