Nearly half a million dollars worth of e-cigarettes stolen from warehouse

Thief breaks in through business next door, deputies say

DANIA BEACH, Fla. – A wholesale electronic cigarette distributor is counting its losses after someone stole an estimated $300,000 worth of merchandise from its warehouse. 

The heist happened Sunday around 6 p.m. at the ElectronicCigaretteWholesale.com on Tigertail Boulevard.

Two sheets of drywall is all that stood between the thief and his huge haul. The thief broke into an auto repair shop on the opposite side of the building. He then busted through the drywall to get into the warehouse, where surveillance cameras show he spent several hours passing boxes through the wall.

"It's probably someone who'd been in here before during business hours," said business manager Justin Darman, who pointed out that the suspect stayed close to the back wall of the space to avoid the motion detectors in the room. He believes the crook loaded the stuff into a truck he backed into the repair shop and drove away.

Darman said this heist will have a ripple effect in this hot new industry because he's a major supplier for hundreds of retail stores around the country.

"I don't know what to tell my customers," said Darman. "I have about 1,200 customers that are going to be waiting for their replacement, and I don't have stuff to sell them. As a small business it's going to effect me big time, it's going to put me a year back."

The Broward Sheriff's Office is investigating the burglary.