MONEAGUE, St Ann -- Thieves yesterday morning broke into a Western Union and Digicel store here in Moneague, making off with cash and cellular phones valued at more than $1 million.

The store is one of four operated by St Ann businessman and member of Parliament for North West St Ann Othniel Lawrence.

The Moneague police, who are investigating, believe the robbers gained entry by cutting away the padlocks on the grill and forcing the door open.

According to the police, the thieves disarmed the security system and damaged the surveillance cameras and its connections.

The police recovered the shell of a section of the security system. It's hard drive, however, was missing.

"The entire security system was destroyed, they cut down all the cameras and damaged the system which it was connected to," Lawrence told the Observer.

"This is a big setback for the business. Only yesterday (Thursday) we stocked the Digicel section of the store with a wide range of new phones."

Lawrence said he was informed by his security company that a signal was sent to its location about 4:00 am and that the Moneague police, who are a few chains away, were informed.

"The security company informed me that the police told them that they came and checked the area and that the place was alright, but this morning we came to find it broken into and the entire store ransacked," Lawrence said.

"Everything is kept overnight in a well-secured vault and I can't understand how they gained entry to the vault. It would take them several hours to get in, open the vault and leave," Lawrence said.

At the same time he called for more frequent police patrols in business areas.

Yesterday, investigators probing the robbery questioned several of the workers.