As per a statement released by Sunnydale Department of Public Safety (DPS), under whose jurisdiction the shop is located in the Bay area of San Francisco, the robbery took place at approximately 1:27 pm at the store located at 791 E. El Camino Real.
A jewellery store of the Pune-headquartered PNG Jewellers in San Francisco, USA was robbed by a group of 20 men in what’s called a ‘smash and grab’ robbery on Wednesday afternoon. The local police chased the robbers and managed to arrest five of them and recover part of the bounty.
Videos of the ‘smash and grab’ robbery showing the masked suspects in black outfits making a forced entry and then grabbing the displayed jewellery by smashing the glass cases with hammers have surfaced on social media.
As per a statement released by Sunnyvale Department of Public Safety (DPS), under whose jurisdiction the shop is located in the Bay area of San Francisco, the robbery took place at approximately 1:27 pm at the store located at 791 E. El Camino Real.
Raw video: Smash & grab robbery at Bay Area jewelry store.
Shocking video of a smash and grab robbery involving hammers and tools at Sunnyvale’s PNG Jewelers USA. Police say they’ve made five arrests and are looking for more suspects. pic.twitter.com/VauMk16Vge
— AppleSeed (@AppleSeedTX) June 15, 2024
As per the statement, the officers responded to a report of a robbery in progress and that approximately 20 suspects were involved.
“The suspects fled the store in multiple vehicles before officers arrived on scene. Officers located two suspect vehicles as they were attempting to flee the area,” Sunnyvale DPS said in a news release.
Two vehicles managed to evade the police when they attempted to stop them, which led to pursuits. The first vehicle was pursued for some time but managed to flee.
PNG jewellers..Sunnyvale @GavinNewsom @RoKhanna @VP . This is the third smash and grab case in the last one month in Santa Clara county. And it is your california…people are sacred ro live. Is it some thing you can help or make better? pic.twitter.com/y8H9PbQzf0
— Vijay Chavva (@vkchavva) June 15, 2024
“During the pursuit of the second vehicle, the suspects discarded stolen jewellery from the moving vehicle. Officers discontinued the pursuit of the second vehicle after losing sight of it. That vehicle was located a short time later by allied agency officers. The suspects abandoned the vehicle on Highway 101 near Whipple Ave. Five suspects that were in the vehicle attempted to flee on foot by running across the freeway and into the nearby industrial area. Four of the suspects were taken into custody near Industrial Rd. and Britain Ave., in San Carlos,” said the release, which added that later on a fifth suspect was located and taken into custody.
Some of the stolen jewellery has been recovered. The total value of the jewellery stolen is unknown at this time. No victims were injured during the robbery.
Indian American community business leaders from several Bay Area cities met with Mayor Klein, Vice-Mayor Srinivasan, DPS’ Chief Ngo & Deputy Chief Syu, to discuss issues regarding the two recent smash & grab robberies that have occurred. The meeting was fruitful & constructive. pic.twitter.com/mx7cnUnI5q
— Sunnyvale DPS (@SunnyvaleDPS) June 15, 2024
PNG Jewellers is a legacy brand that has its beginning in the 19th century. The founder of the company, Ganesh Gadgil, started the business in Sangli and many decades later the descendants moved to Pune. PNG Jewellers has several dozen stores across India and also in Dubai and the USA.
Following the incident, members of the Indian American community and business leaders from the Bay area met representatives of the local police and the city administration to raise their concerns.
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First uploaded on: 15-06-2024 at 18:26 IST
