Newspaper shutdown by theft of $100k worth of computer hardware
Crowbar-wielding thieves beat up a security guard yesterday and made off with the "brains" of the Montreal Gazette's new printing-plant operations, derailing plans to produce about 15,000 copies of today's paper on the new presses. Computer equipment worth $100,000 was stolen from the newspaper's new plant, in what John Laurin the Gazette's vice-president (manufacturing) described as a "pretty professional burglary."
The theft of the critical computer equipment will delay the Gazette's progres in its gradual shift to the new presses. "It's hard to say what the impact will be right now," Gazette Publisher Michael Goldbloom said yesterday. "It could be a question of a few days' delay or a month." Around 1 a.m., a security guard was performing a routine check of the alarm system, Laurin said. As the guard opened an emergency-exit door to test the alarm, three men carrying at least one crowbar grabbed him....
Theft stalls Montreal newspaper presses
Loss worth $100,000 at new plant, official says
Montreal police Constable Manon St-Jean said the thieves kicked the guard and punched him in the face.
Laurin said the men then forced the unarmed guard to give them access to several computer rooms, keeping him with them as they carted nine computer servers, four hard drives and three laptops out of the building.
The guard, who did not need hospital treatment, was only able to call police at 1:50 a.m., when the thieves released him and left the building.
SNP.
