Well-dressed thief does a runner … with two expensive watches
Robber persuades staff to let him try on HK$480,000 timepieces
PUBLISHED : Tuesday, 22 April, 2014, 6:29pm
UPDATED : Tuesday, 22 April, 2014, 6:29pm
Clifford Lo [email protected]
A well-dressed man talked a shop assistant into letting him try on two expensive watches and then he ran away wearing them. Photo: Sam Tsang
Police are looking for a tall, well-dressed robber who is very fast on his feet … and wearing two watches worth HK$480,000.
With tactics described by police as ‘simple’ a Cantonese-speaking Chinese man walked into the Zenith store on Level Two of the Ocean Terminal shopping arcade in Canton Road on Monday and asked to try on some expensive watches.
Wearing a smart, yellow polo shirt, a black vest and dark-coloured trousers the 1.8metre-tall thief managed to persuade a shop assistant to unlock a show case to let him try on a few expensive timepieces.
“The sales staff took two watches out to show the man as he asked to view them,” a police investigator said. “He wore two watches and then ran out of the shop. Staff immediately gave chase, but lost him in the busy shopping arcade.”
Police say the fast-paced robber may have acted alone, although “it is possible he had a partner who acted as lookout outside the shop”.
One of the watches is valued at HK$250,000 and the other is worth HK$230,000, police said.
Crime-squad officers in Yau Tsim police district are checking to see if the robbery can be linked to other thefts in the district.
Luxury shops in the area have become the target of gangs of thieves who include mainlanders, Vietnamese, South Asians and South Americans, according to another officer.
About two months ago, a shoplifter was arrested for stealing a HK$900,000 crocodile skin coat from a Burberry store in Tsim Sha Tsui.
Police figures show there were 31,598 reports of theft across the city last year, a 6.1 per cent drop from 33,664 in 2012. There were 35,026 in 2011 and 34,343 in 2010.
