Two armed bandits
rob jewellery store
PHILIPSBURG--Two armed bandits robbed a Front Street jewellery store of several pieces of expensive merchandise before disappearing up the street Saturday afternoon.
The men were said to have been wearing helmets when they stormed Ray’s Jewellery just before 4:00pm, holding up employees and shoppers under the threat of handguns. The robbers snatched an unspecified amount of jewellery from behind the counter and from the showcase, which they broke with the butt of one of the handguns, police spokesman Inspector Ricardo Henson reported Sunday.
The bandits stuffed the jewellery into a backpack before rushing out of the store and onto a motorcycle/dirt bike they had left parked outside the store, Henson said.
A representative of Ray’s Jewellery was uncooperative when members of the local media approached him after detectives had left the store at the beginning of their investigation. The man tersely confirmed the robbery with a “yes” before shutting the steel grill that leads to the store.
It was observed though that detectives had left the store with something in hand that appeared to be a cassette tape, possibly indicating that the store had surveillance equipment and the robbers had been caught on camera.
A spate of early afternoon robberies in March terrified Front Street jewellery merchants who were targeted by young men using similar methods. There has never been a clear description of the suspects who pulled off four successful early afternoon heists in six weeks.
The police are asking anyone who may have any information related to this investigation to call the police station at 542-2222.
