A SHOPKEEPER says he is being forced to shut up shop early because of almost nightly threats by marauding youths.

Dlvan Mohamad told how he is visited by yobs most nights demanding he sell them booze and cigarettes and when he refuses he is faced with a barrage of abuse and threats.

Asian Image:

Dlvan Mohamad.

The 41-year-old runs Top Shop, a mini-market in Wigan Road, Bolton.

He said: "I am really scared.

"They come asking for cigarettes and alcohol and when I ask them to show me ID they cannot and I tell them I cannot sell it to them, they abuse and threaten me.

"I had two staff working for me but they left because of this. This has been happening for a month, when I took the shop over.

"They throw in lit cigarettes inside the shop and threatened to burn it down.

"They use the board I have outside to try and smash the window and throw it inside."

Asian Image:

Top Shop on Wigan Road

Mr Mohamad says he is confronted by 10 to 15 teenage youths on most nights and said he was becoming increasingly worried in the run up to bonfire night.

"You just don't know what they will do," he said, "The shop should close at 11pm but now I will close at 9.30am, 10pm.

"My business is starting to suffer as well because customers do not want to come when they see this."

Mr Mohamad says the situation is making his medical conditions, including blood pressure, worse.

"I don't know what to do. If I could I would sell the shop," said Mr Mohamad, who lives in Leigh.

He added his family are always checking in on him while he is working to make sure he is okay.

"I have reported it to the police, and they visited earlier this week," said Mohamad, "I just do not know what to do."

Police have been contacted for a response