Laptop stolen from Tufnell Park’s Rustique Café by moped gang with hammer

A second café has been attacked by moped thieves, just a day after robbers smashed the windows of Gail’s Bakery in Highgate.

On Tuesday November 7, a man wearing a helmet burst through the doors of Rustique Café on Fortress Road, just after 7.15pm. After shouting, and brandishing a hammer he grabbed a laptop from a nearby table and fled the scene on the back of a moped.

Café owner, Bekim Visoka, 47 said that the whole incident took seconds. “It happened so quickly. He barged through the door with crazy force. It was so dramatic. People backed off towards the counter and he grabbed the laptop and went.”

The owner of the laptop had briefly popped out of the café at the time of the theft, but saw the event unfold from outside.

Police were called to the scene, and nobody was hurt.

On the same night an attempted robbery on the Crouch End tapas restaurant, Bar Estaban was averted after customers and staff fought off a moped mugger armed with a hammer.

Both incidents come a day after a moped gang smashed through the windows of a Highgate café to snatch a laptop.

However Mr Visoka said he was at a loss over how to stop the same thing happening again.

“I didn’t sleep at all last night, because I was thinking about how to stop this. I thought about locking the café doors but you can’t do that,” he said.

“I feel horrible, I’ve been here for 16 years and nothing like this has happened before. You can’t insure against it because it’s so expensive. It’s so low and so sad. I don’t know what to do.”