$20,000 worth of cigarettes stolen in Melbourne service station robbery

A thief armed with an angle grinder has robbed a family-run service station of more than $20,000 worth of cigarettes.

They say the unknown offender forced the doors of a McKinnon service station open with his white SUV at 5am.

Once inside, he allegedly used an angle grinder to cut locks and stole cigarettes and cash.

The owners of the AMPOL store said it was a blow to their business.

“We will suffer a loss, a huge loss because we started recently during COVID, now this robbery will impact totally to our business,” staff member Zara Alikhan said.

Police are investigating.