Heist from Stabroek Market Jeweller… Burglars torch safe, cart off estimated $90M in gold, diamond

Jul 04, 2018 News

The jewel stall in Stabroek Market that was robbed.

A multi-million-dollar jewel heist that was discovered yesterday has left one long-standing jeweller family counting losses in the millions.
The jewellery stall that has been in the Stabroek Market for over six decades, was said to have been secured on the last day of business of the market, last week. They further checked on Sunday and found the stall still secured.
This was not the case on Tuesday morning at 07:00 hrs when an employee turned up to find a vault housed in the jewellery stall torched, and the door ajar.
The padlocks for the grill that secured the stall from front were cut and the grill wrenched open. There were a bag at the scene and a jersey. There was also the equipment used to torch the vault. That included gas bottles and a torch.
When this publication visited the scene, investigators from the Criminal Investigation Department and City Police were in the process of examining the entry points and dusting the scene for fingerprints. The Crime Chief, Assistant Commissioner Paul Williams, was also at the scene.
The vault is a walk-in vault that stands six feet tall. Before that vault could be gotten to, there is a quarter inch steel-plated door that is secured by multiple locks.

Proprietors of the jewel stall talking with investigators just outside the vault.

Then the vault door has a combination locking system. The vault itself carries 12-inch thick walls and is fireproof.
This has the proprietors pondering how such a heist can be achieved without the market security having a clue.
The jewellers were very tight-lipped about what transpired, but some staff were adamant that it was an inside job, since they claim that it would take over five hours to cut all the locks and torch the safe, and there was no evidence of a break-in to the market itself, to their knowledge. There was supposed to be City Police securing the Market, they said.
This publication made attempts to talk reach the Clerk of Markets for the Stabroek Market, but was told he was in a meeting.