Smash-and-grab bandits hit another Melbourne jewellery store
Hooded and masked, the four bandits attack the store's locked glass door with hammers to gain entry.
Almost a dozen Melbourne jewellery stores have been robbed in brazen smash-and-grab heists in the past nine months and police say they are liaising with jewellers to help them beef up security.
In the latest robbery, four men armed with crowbars and other weapons robbed and trashed Jafari Jewellery on Burke Road in Malvern just before noon on Thursday.
The owner was forced to flee as the men filled their bags before running to their silver BMW getaway car carrying trays of jewels.
“We need some safety. We work very hard,” Mohammed Jafari told 3AW on Thursday.
“Everything is smashed. There were four people inside – big men, all of them.”
Victoria Police Assistant Commissioner Robert Hill said he understands business owners and the community are concerned.
“These incidents are subject to thorough, ongoing investigations and police have already charged over 30 people in relation to this offending in the past 12 months,” Mr Hill said.
Detective Sergeant Peter Lockman pointed to the gang’s professionalism.
“They were armed with a hammer and crowbars, the offenders were all wearing masks, all gloved up, and all wearing undistinctive clothing,” he said.
It was a brazen attack, he added, “given the time of day, given the amount of people on the street and the calmness of the attack”.
Mr Jafari noticed the masked offenders before they entered and locked himself in a back room.
“They all covered their face and [had] gloves on and steel bars in their hands, smashing the glass,” he said.
Police have been speaking with store owners about how they can adopt a number of crime prevention measures.
The Malvern robbery follows a smash and grab at Waverley Gardens Shopping Centre on Wednesday in which axe wielding robbers smashed up the store.
There have been over a dozen jewellery store robberies across Melbourne in past 10 months, with shops targeted in Toorak, Elsternwick, Reservoir, Coburg, South Yarra, Canterbury, Lalor and the CBD.
Some stores, including H&H jewellery in Elsternwick, have been hit multiple times.
-AAP
Conviction overturned in case that fueled MeToo
Israel poised to move on Gazan city of Rafah
