A man has been jailed for his part in a daring £34,000 raid at a north-east electronics superstore.
Ioan Chitic was one of the masked gang who travelled all the way from Birmingham to break into Elgin’s Currys PC World on the morning of September 25 2019.
They used a circular saw to cut through metal security fences and cladding then broke through a brick wall with a crowbar before filling their bags with gadgets and making their getaway south in at least two vehicles.
Inverness Sheriff Court was told the raiders crawled through a 3ft by 4ft hole and spent 10 minutes racing around the store grabbing electronics and putting them in a black sack.
Fiscal depute Robert Weir said police received intelligence about one car, which officers stopped near Lockerbie on the M74 around five hours later.
Three men were inside, including 31-year-old Chitic, of Sladefield Road, Birmingham.
However only three stolen mobile phones were recovered.
The vast remainder of the items, totalling £34,105, as well as the tools the criminals used for the break-in, were never recovered.
The theft was filmed on the store’s CCTV and Chitic was identified from the clothing he was wearing while using the circular saw, plus fibres found on a fence also matched.
‘Significant risk of deportation’
Defence solicitor Duncan Henderson told Sheriff Sara Matheson that his client had lost his job and had no money.
He said: “He had given in to temptation for what he thought was an easy way to make money.
“He now faces a significant risk of deportation back to Romania as his visa has expired.”
Jailing Chitic for 21 months, backdated to March 30, 2021 when he was remanded in custody, Sheriff Matheson told him: “Because of the fact these were commercial premises, the degree of planning involved, tools present, and the value of the goods stolen, there is no alternative to a prison sentence.”
