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SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
A Franklin Avenue convenience store owner is giving a group of thieves a chance to bring two stone statues back to his store before he calls the police.

Alan Huynh stands in front of his father Thanh's store where two lion statues used to be located. They were stolen early Monday morning. Huynh says he knows who took the lions and has them on film. He just wants the pieces returned. - Simon Whitehouse/NNSL photo

Thanh "Tan" Huynh, owner of Sunlines Convenience Store, says sometime early Tuesday morning, between 12:30 a.m. and 4 a.m., two stone lions were removed from where they stand and greet customers. Huynh estimates the pieces are between 175 to 190 lbs each and were gifts from friends in Calgary when the Huynh family opened the store in August 2010.

While he says he has the theft on tape from his surveillance camera, he says he has not reported the incident to the RCMP yet because he doesn't want to create trouble unnecessarily. He just wants the lions back.

"I will just say I know who (they) are and I want to save them trouble by allowing them to bring the statues back," said Huynh this week. "I'll give them a couple days before I go to the RCMP, but from there they might get into trouble. I don't want myself be in trouble, either. I just want my property back."

Huynh says he doesn't have to see the suspects or talk to them directly, but that the people are welcome to just to drop the property off behind his store.

To get the pieces, Huynh said the thieves had to cut two small chains which secured them to the concrete foundations.

This isn't the first time the store has been robbed since he opened. Huynh says he is concerned about putting his store's name out in the public every time something bad happens, because it draws negative attention to his establishment.

Almost the exact same time last year, three fur hats, three seal skin pelts and three seal skin coats were stolen, but later returned. As a result, Huynh did not press charges at that time.

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