DARING ROBBERY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 20607, 4 July 1930, Page 16

DARING ROBBERY.

SKILFUL MELBOURNE GANG. JEWELLERY WORTH £BOOO. Safebreakers showed skill and daring when they entered the premises of King and Company, drapers and jewellers, in Bourke Street, Melbourne, recently, and stole jewellery valued at £BOOO. Apparently the thieves had closely studied the movements of the night watchman and were familiar with the type of strongroom safe, in the back of which they made a largo hole. The steel double doors of the safe were connected by an electric alarm to police headquarters, and tho gang was evidently aware of 'this, for the locks of the door were not touched.

It is thought that (ho thieves entered tho premises ahout midnight. They mado a hole in the ceiling of the speciallyconstructed room in which the safe was housed and broke through tho quarter-inch steel plate of the safo itself. The robbery was not discovered until one o'clock in tho morning. The stolen jewellery consisted chiefly of diamond rings and golden bracelets, and represented nearly half the, value of tho contents of the shop. Tho safo was divided into four compartments and in one of these a considerable sum of money and more jewellery was stored, but in order to get at it tho thieves would have had to cut three more holes similar to tho one they had made in tho back of the safe. The contents were left intact. The loss is covered by insurance.