CCTV footage shows 4 armed robbers hold up store in Hong Kong at lunchtime, escape with 70 watches
- Suspects carrying what appeared to be weapons threatened staff before shoving watches into bag and escaping in getaway car
- Police are searching for the brazen gang who did not fire any shots during the incident
Seventy watches estimated to be worth about HK$13 million (US$1.7 million) were stolen from a store in Hong Kong’s Causeway Bay shopping district at lunchtime on Wednesday, sparking a police manhunt for a gang of robbers.
According to the force, four perpetrators with one of them carrying what appeared to be a handgun made off with the valuables from Tse’s Collection, a ground-floor shop at the junction of Lockhart Road and Canal Road East, soon after 1pm.
Chief Inspector Cheung Ka-wing of the Hong Kong Island regional crime unit said on Wednesday that three of the robbers were carrying what appeared to be a pistol, a knife and a hammer during the raid.
He said the four men rushed into the shop and used the weapons to threaten two employees who were forced to surrender the key to the showcases.
“[The robbers] stayed in the shop for about three minutes before running out of the shop,” Cheung said, adding that they jumped into a black getaway car on Jaffe Road.
The 70 stolen watches, which included brands such as Rolex and Audemars Piguet, were worth about HK$13 million, police said on Thursday.
An online video showed only two employees – one man and one woman – were in the shop at the time of the heist.
The footage shows one of the robbers brandishing what appeared to be a pistol and threatening the man with the weapon during the hold-up, while the other culprit intimidated the female staff member with a knife.
In the clip, the third intruder opened the showcases and stuffed watches into a black travel bag before the fourth man carrying a hammer helped him.
Police said no shots were fired during the hold-up and no casualties were reported. No arrests were made.
The chief inspector said officers were investigating whether the weapon was a genuine handgun and if there was a syndicate behind the four robbers. He added they had checked security camera footage to gather evidence.
Cheung also appealed to witnesses or anyone with information to contact officers on 2860 7834 or 9886 0043.
According to the force, officers were still searching for the getaway car and the robbers.
In the first six months of this year, police handled 41 robberies across the city, down nearly 39 per cent from 67 cases in the same period last year. The force said 27 of the 41 cases were solved and the detection rate was 66 per cent.
