It reads so much like a scene from "Law and Order" that all that's missing is the trademark "dun-dun": Two employees of a high-end Manhattan jewelry store are waiting for the subway when theives swipe their bag containing $120,000 worth of jewels and gold, leaving behind an identical decoy.
Now, MTA police are asking for the public’s assistance in finding the suspects who pulled off the daring caper amid the bustle of Grand Central Terminal on June 24.
The brazen – and apparently well-executed – robbery happened around 6 p.m, police said.
The two employees were carrying a black duffel bag packed with 800 pieces of gold and diamond jewelry including rings, neck chains, bracelets, earrings and pendants, as well as about $2,000 in cash. In all, they had about $120,000 worth of jewelry packed in the bag, police said.
The employee with possession of the bag set it down momentarily -- perhaps briefly forgetting its contents. Police said the employee was “discarding some garbage” and left the bag near the feet of the second employee.
At that exact moment, the employee’s co-worker was approached by two men who created a diversion by dropping a $10 bill on the ground and informing the co-worker that he had dropped it.
“As the co-worker was occupied, a third man took the duffel bag and replaced it with a nearly identical bag that was weighted down to appear have the same weight as the bag containing the jewelry,” police said.
Here’s where it gets even stranger: Though the bilked employees could describe what the suspects were wearing – light blue, uniform-type shirts and dark pants – they apparently could not pinpoint whether these men were Asian or Hispanic.
Luckily, surveillance photos snapped a bit later offer up a grainy, but clearer, picture.
All of the stolen jewelry was manufactured by the same company and engraved with the letters “M O.,” police said.
The MTA Police ask that anyone with information that may be pertinent to this case call the MTA Police Department at 212-878-1000.
