SYDNEY, Oct. 4 (Xinhua) -- An Australian tobacco entrepreneur, dubbed the next Hugh Hefner, has been robbed of almost 300 million Australian dollars (229.630 million U.S. dollars) worth of cigarettes which were kept in his warehouse, local media reported on Tuesday.
The high-profile Gold Coast businessman known as Travers Beynon was robbed on Sunday morning by a group of men wearing disguises who had broke into his tobacco warehouse Freechoice at Upper Coomera in Queensland before escaping with thousands of packaged cigarettes.
The robbers fled with a used a van, stolen from a neighboring dry cleaning business, which has been since located by police.
Senior Sergeant Todd Miller said the men broke in through the roof and CCTV has captured parts of the crime.
"The offenders were well organized, they were well drilled and they stole a significant amount of cigarettes," he said.
"It was swift offence, I believe it was only seven minutes, so it's rather quick with a high yield."
National human resources and operations manager for Freechoice, Susie Ozioko, said it was not the first time Beynon's business had been targeted.
"Unfortunately, we're in a business with tobacco where we're just a target, you know, cigarettes are as close to cash as you can get, and that made us a target," she said.
"I don't think his profile was related to the break-in."
Beynon was unavailable to comment on the robbery, but his publicist said he was preparing to fly to the United States later this month with his wife and five girlfriends for an article in a men's magazine.
Away from his tobacco business, Beynon is known for hosting lavish parties at his northern Gold Coast mansion and posting photos on social media of himself posing with scantily clad women.
The publicist said Beynon who also goes by the moniker "The Candyman" was developing a reputation as the next Hugh Hefner, a well-known U.S. adult magazine publisher.
