Jewellery suppliers targeted in robbery spate

2.8 k views | Posted July 17, 2012 |

After a recent spate of robberies on jewellery stores, several jewellery suppliers have been targeted, with a raft of similar thefts reported in Sydney suburbs.

New South Wales Police are searching for three people accused of robbing two jewellery salesmen in a carpark in Campbelltown last week.

On Thursday morning, three people wearing balaclavas broke into a supplier’s car with an unknown object and assaulted one of the salesmen, who was sitting in the passenger seat. The thieves stole two bags from the back seat, which included gold jewellery.

Police said the group escaped in a white Ford Falcon, which was abandoned at the University of Western Sydney and later recovered by Police.

Detective Inspector Paul Albury of Campbelltown police told the Macarthur Chronicle that the State Crime Command's Strike Force believed the robbery was connected to several similar-style robberies that had occurred around Sydney, including incidents in Ashfield, Chatswood and Parramatta.

In a separate incident, another jewellery supplier told Jeweller the heavy-handed tactics of the Campbelltown robbery might be connected to a robbery his salesman experienced.

The supplier, who asked not to be identified, said one of his employees was robbed of stock in early June in inner Sydney after a salesman had finished his last appointment for the day. He drove to his hotel room, taking the latest jewellery collection with him to the room.

After leaving the room for a short time, he returned to find the door had been smashed open and the jewellery stolen. It’s believed the salesman was followed to the hotel by car from the jewellery store where the product presentation had been made at the counter.

He explained that the jewellery store does not have a back office area and therefore all sales calls are made in full view of customers.

As a result, the supplier has now undertaken to no longer make product presentations to stores unless there is a private office area. The supplier has appealed to retailers to make a space available in the back of stores to present jewellery ranges, rather than in plain sight of all customers.

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