Thieves use truck as battering ram, raid Chatsworth smoke shop

A group of thieves used a pickup truck as a battering ram Thursday, smashing their way into a Chatsworth smoke shop and ransacking the store.

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The brazen crime occurred around 1:30 a.m. in 21700 block of Devonshire Street, where the suspects backed a stolen white truck into the front of the store, Los Angeles Police Department Officer Drake Madison told City News Service.

Surveillance video showed the truck smashing a metal security gate, after which several men wearing hoodies raid the store and grab merchandise before making a quick getaway in a white SUV parked outside the store.

A smoke shop in North Hollywood also experience an attempted break-in early Thursday. The burglars targeting that store, which is located at Burbank Boulevard and Cartwright Avenue, used an allegedly stolen SUV but were unsuccessful and abandoned the SUV and fled, according to Fox11.

Madison said the stolen vehicle was impounded and it was not immediately known what was taken. It was not immediately clear that the same burglars who robbed the Chatsworth also tried to rob the store in North Hollywood.

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