Surrey’s Afghan Kitchen picking up pieces after aggressive, targeted vandalism

SURREY (NEWS 1130) — Staff at the Afghan Kitchen in South Surrey are shaken and trying to get past an incident of vandalism over the weekend.

Owner Hassib Sarwari says a man approached them asking for food just before closing Saturday night.

Later in the night, on their way out, Sarwari and his staff noticed the man hanging around the parking lot and eventually made his way inside the restaurant’s temporary patio.

“He pretty much started rearranging the furniture and made himself a nice place to stay,” Sarwari says but says while he was hesitant to let the man stay behind, he left the man alone for the night.

However, the following day, video surveillance showed the same man had smashed their patio heaters.

“He destroyed the first two. And then last, came back again in like a 20-minute span and then started smashing the other two as well,” Sarwari describes the video.

 

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“We’re still quite taken back by the incident. We have a very small team. We’re short-staffed as it is dealing with so many different challenges. We all work long hours, and then seeing something like this happen just breaks your heart because we pretty much put in all of our effort time in building the restaurant, making it nice, investing our time, money.

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Sarwari adds he is grateful non of his staff encountered him later that night because he worries, “it could have been much worse.”

“It’s been definitely tough, but we’re coping with it. I think we’ve become quite good at dealing with all the challenges with COVID the past year and a half and adapting to different job challenges. This is just another one that we have to deal with and then overcome.”

Restaurant staff is concerned because they believe the suspect might be suffering from mentally illness, they hope he gets help so he gets well and can feel safe.

Police say they have identified a suspect.