One more score to online jewelry retailers? Britain was astounded last Thursday after one of the nation's, biggest jewelry heists estimated in $65 million dollar, took place at the Graff jewelry store. Now, a week later, more details are beginning to unveil about the affair.
A man was arrested yesterday by the Scotland Yard for taking part in the robbery. Although not suspected of being one of the two people who walked into the store that fateful afternoon, he is considered to be one of their getaway drivers. Moreover, a professional make-up artist who unknowingly helped the robbers implement their elaborated scheme recently came forward and told the police that the perpetrators had paid him £450 in order to disguise them.
The make-up artist, who remains anonymous for obvious reasons, altered the robbers' faces by covering them liquid latex. In a 4 hour session, the make-up artist also colored their hair and skin tone. He was led to believe that this was done for the sake of a music video they were shooting. Indeed, it seems that robbers are becoming more sophisticated, waiving the traditional ski masks (or Nixon masks if you're Patrick Swayze). In this case, the two thieves simply walked into the jewelry store, unaffected by the fact that their faces had been caught on the security camera – mostly because they weren't actually their faces.In a previous post I wrote about a similar case in which a 50 year old man walked into a jewelry store in Paris wearing a Humphrey Bogart disguise, politely robbed the store at gun point and disappeared. That man, it seems, was apprehended by the Belgium authorities this week. Crime doesn't pay. Or at least, this time the return isn't nearly as valuable as the risk. The robbers may have gone away with £40 million worth of jewels, but experts state that value of the gems dropped the minute they left the store. The items that were stolen are quite unique, and it probably wouldn't be wise to walk around in public wearing them.
For the thieves to make a handsome profit, they'd have to melt the items down. However, according to some theories, the heist was ordered by someone very wealthy from a distant country overseas, probably in the Middle East, and if that's true, the jewelry is probably long gone. Much like in the field of technology, robbers and thieves are always looking for new and innovative ways for their line of work. Although in the case of rapper Brisco, they went for a less subtle approach.
Mr. Brisco was in Miami getting his hair cut in late July, when four men barged into the barbershop, whipped the rapper with the back of a pistol, ordered everyone to stay on the ground, and took off with Brisco's jewelry, cash and SUV. But that's okay, Brisco says. He can always buy more jewelry.
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