Police are investigating the heist, which saw a lone thief cut a hole in the roof of the North Rocks Shopping Centre, in Sydney’s northwest suburbs, at 3.25am on 4 August, before stealing cash and jewellery from two stores.
The thief – dressed in a hoodie which covered their face – reportedly first stole money from the till of a menswear retailer before cutting a hole in the wall and entering the family-owned Alexander Jewellers, where they can be seen on CCTV sweeping items from the display cases and ransacking the jeweller’s bench and office.
Only a few trays of rings and earrings were left behind in the raid, with storeowner Wally Sobbi telling Nine News, “[The thief] was smashing all my jewellery and stealing. That’s all our family supporting money; it’s pushed me very badly. I don’t know what to say.”
Sobbi said that a knife – believed to have been used to cut through the wall – and a spray bottle filled with a liquid to remove fingerprints had been found at the scene.
Nine News reported that this was the second time Alexander Jewellers had been targeted by criminals in three years – a 2016 burglary resulted in $50,000 being taken – and that the store’s insurance was unlikely to cover the full $300,000 value of the jewellery stolen in the 2019 raid.
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