NEWTON PARK - JEWELLERY THIEVES TRY TO BLOW SAFES OPEN WITH EXPLOSIVES

Store ransacked after plan to open safes fails

A PORT Elizabeth jewellery shop owner was relieved yesterday to find that bombs placed inside his two safes overnight had not worked, leaving thieves with only display cases to ransack.

The thieves entered the premises through the roof in the middle of the night, drilled holes in two safes and inserted liquid explosive gel and detonators in the hope of making off with expensive jewellery.

The Port Elizabeth bomb unit spent hours yesterday defusing the explosives at Garron Designer Jewellers in West Street, Newton Park.

A K9 unit dog confirmed that explosives were in the two safes in the back room.

Frustrated store owner Gary Kirton said the thieves were believed to have broken into the shop shortly before midnight.

“I was told by Atlas Security at about 11.30pm that the alarm had gone off,” he said.

“The armed response officers had been there and not seen signs of a break-in, so we didn’t think anything of it.

“Only when I came to the store this morning did we see the back room ransacked and some of the display cases emptied. “It was very worrying.” Kirton said the thieves had ripped out the alarm in the roof, which was when it had gone off.

As soon as he realised he had been burgled, he had rushed to the safes and attempted to open the doors.

VIA - heraldlive.co.za