A man is recovering from the shock of a break-in at his shop in Bragg Creek. In the early morning hours today, an alarm triggered a call to Angelo Avlonitis, the owner of the art studio and shop, Art Country Canada, in the Banded Peak shopping centre. When he met police on the scene after 5 a.m., he discovered the front window of the shop shattered and a glass casing holding pricey Inuit art knocked over. Several pieces were stolen, the RCMP confirmed, including an Inuit Soapstone and Haida canoe paddle. "They grabbed what they could get through the window,” Avlonitis said. “I guess the alarm must have scared them off so that was kind of a good thing I suppose and they didn’t drag their way in here and smash everything in the darn place.” Avlonitis said a shelf was knocked over, smashing thousands of dollars worth of Inuit soapstones in the process. “I’d rather see that they even took it and that they got homes for it instead of broken arms on Inuit fisherman soapstones,” Avlonitis said. “It’s freaky, I feel violated.” Avlonitis estimated there was between $5,000 to $7,000 worth of goods stolen or broken. RCMP said it does not appear that the suspect(s) gained entry into the building, just broke a window and stole what they could reach. Police are still investigating the case.
