HK$22 million gone in 5 minutes: robbers posing as customers snatch jade and diamond necklace from Hong Kong jewellery store, flee in getaway car
- Two men enter Emperor Watch and Jewellery shop on Canton Road, pretending to be customers before snatching item and fleeing in getaway car
- Vehicle found abandoned on Man Wai Street about 2km away and officers hunt for three suspects
A jade and diamond necklace worth as much as HK$22 million (US$2.8 million) was stolen from a jewellery store in Hong Kong’s busy Tsim Sha Tsui shopping district on Monday, sparking a citywide police search for at least three suspects.
The two criminals, wearing face masks made ubiquitous by Covid-19, entered the ground-floor Emperor Watch and Jewellery shop on Canton Road near the junction of Peking Road at 12.10pm, police said. A force insider said they told an employee in English they intended to buy the necklace and asked to examine it first.
“When the employee presented the pair the necklace, one of the men drew out a 50cm-long knife from a bag and threatened the staff member with the weapon and stole the necklace,” said Chief Inspector Yau Yu-sing of Yau Tsim district crime squad.
The two culprits were inside the shop for a total of about five minutes and as they bolted into a black Mazda car parked outside the store, one of the robbers dropped a power bank on the ground, the source said.
The necklace was the most expensive item in the display window and officers had learned the pair had visited the store last week to gather information for the robbery, the insider said.
Security camera footage posted online shows one of the criminals wearing a long-sleeve white shirt and the other a blazer and sports shoes, carrying a rucksack and the knife.
According to police, no one was injured in the incident.
