Iqaluit thieves close gas bar, hamper cable TV

Thanks to a late-evening break-in on Thursday, April 8 at the Arctic Co-ops Ltd. building on Iqaluit’s airport road, the Iqaluit Gas Bar closed for a day and ACL’s cable television service shut down temporarily.

Someone cut power to building at around 11 p.m. April 8, said Stephane Daigle, the ACL manager in Iqaluit.

The gas bar’s safe was ripped open and the cash kept inside it was stolen, along with some cigarettes.

“They must have been here all night [to rip open the safe],” Daigle said.
 
Because of damage inflicted by the thieves, the building’s communications connections, including systems for approving credit card and bank card transactions, were down.

When power was restored, the surge burned out the building’s internet hub.
 
That forced the gas bar to close all day Friday until a new hub could be purchased and installed.

Cable service had already been spotty since a power outage on Wednesday, April 7, but an emergency technician was brought in over the weekend and restored full service by the following Sunday.

Daigle wouldn’t say how much cash was stolen, but he said it was less than the revenues lost during the gas bar’s closure, from 7 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.

Gas bar staff discovered the break-in when they arrived 7 a.m. April 9 to open for business.
 
Technicians restored cable television service by re-splicing the cut cable.

The building’s security camera recorded the thief and the tape will go to the RCMP to see if their experts can get an identification out of the dark image.

ACL operates a gas bar, convenience store and cable television office out of its Airport Road building.