Burglars dig tunnel to steal $10M in jewelry

The robbery took place on April 13, around 9:30 pm, at the Love Jewel store, located on Broadway Street downtown. Among the items taken were gold watches, pendants and chains.

According to Officer David Cuellar of the Los Angeles Police Department, investigators examined CCTV footage showing the suspects entering the store through a large hole they had drilled from the adjacent building, an abandoned theater.

An undetermined number of burglars fled through this same hole, then fled in a late-model Chevrolet truck, said Officer Cuellar.

The owners of Love Jewels believe the thieves worked very hard to tunnel their way into their store: “They probably went in there every night, slowly dug it until there was enough room for them to get in,” the owner’s son, who wished to remain anonymous, told NBC News.

According to Agent Cuellar, initial estimates of losses were $10 million. However, he added that this figure could change.

In an interview with KTTV, the owners of Love Jewels said the losses exceeded $20 million.

“They were able to disable the cameras, disable the alarm and they were able to get into both the safes,” explained the owner’s son.

“In the gold business, you reinvest everything so all our money was what was in the safe, them to get in,” he added.

The owners think it took the thieves several hours to cut out their safe!

The theft was not discovered until the employees arrived at work the following morning. The images are striking.