Police are hunting for the suspects behind yet another swift smash and grab robbery of a jewelry store in Hong Kong.
Two robbers last night raided the Prince jewellery store in Tsim Sha Tsui’s Harbour City about 7:30pm, fleeing with six diamond ornaments worth about HK$5 million (US$637,000) in a heist the lasted less than a minute, according to Ming Pao.
CCTV footage from the store obtained by Apple Daily shows the robbery in action.
Two men, one wearing a white fisherman’s hat and another with a red baseball cap, enter the store.
While the former wrenches open a display case near the entrance, the man in the red cap provides cover, at one point taking out a weapon and threatening staff in the store. The whole raid took about 27 seconds.
The SCMP wrote that an eyewitness was planning to enter the store when she heard screams and saw about 20 people rushing out.
She then heard the sound of breaking glass before two people fled down an escalator.
The robbery — being investigated by West Kowloon Regional District — is the latest of several smash and grab robberies in Hong Kong.
The most recent, in March, saw three Colombian tourists make off with HK$40 million (US$5 million) worth of valuables from a store in Central. The trio were later arrested.
In February, thieves in the New Territories snatched more than HK$1 million (US$127,900)worth of valuable second-hand watches in brazen smash-and-grab raid.
According to the SCMP, jewelry industry associations last year issued security warnings to members, with 2017 seeing at least six raids, which netted some HK$70 million (almost US$9 million) of stolen valuables.
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