"Look, it's always the same", sighs Samuel Borello, exasperated. The owner of the Le BarOmètre café, on the marina, leans behind the counter to grab his smartphone.

The sepia snapshot of his surveillance camera dates from September 28. On the photograph, the slender silhouette of the burglar, hooded and masked, is rummaging through the cash register of the restaurant.

A second photograph, which dates from the next day, immortalizes the young trickster in the same place, in the same position. “Same time, same place, same outfit,” recites the restaurateur, tired.

It must be said that Samuel Borello is clearly accustomed to this type of break-in. Since May, his establishment has been looted a dozen times by what seems to be, according to him, the same group of delinquents: "Minors aged 14 to 18".

He grimaces, "every time it's the same modus operandi: they force the door, try to steal our funds - which sometimes only contains 5 euros - and leave with a coke… They make themselves at home".

So when the Raphaëlois found, Thursday morning, that his laptop and his telephone were not found, he was only moderately surprised: "They still cracked down".

3 minutes to fly

The BarOmeter was not the only trade targeted on the night of January 26-27. Three other restaurants did not escape this tour: the gourmet Bérandy (which lost "only a few bottles of wine"), the Pouletisserie and the Santa Café.

The owner of the Pouletisserie, David Vancoillie found his crate in the trash on Thursday morning. The cameras, placed above the counter and in the rotisserie room, were not enough to dissuade the minors from committing a new theft.

"They entered at 1:30 a.m. and left at 1:33 a.m. according to our video surveillance devices. It must be said that they are starting to be experienced," observes the manager.

Before continuing, "they have already come in August this summer. They are young people who are around fifteen years old. They are arrested, they are taken to court but they are minors and end up being released".

For the few restaurateurs targeted by these nocturnal visits, a video protection system installed along the port, or more frequent police patrols, would help stem this phenomenon.

"We had acquired cameras too but they stole them from us", is discouraged Samuel Borello. His only hope? Discuss with the municipality and other merchants in order to find a solution.