Police: Video catches moment thief tunnels into Washington DC store and steals over $100,000 in jewelry

In a blatant act of theft, a criminal mastermind broke into a jewelry and liquor store in Washington, D.C. Between the early hours of the morning and the store’s closing times, a span of approximately three hours saw the daring break-in.

Neighbors heard unusual banging noises during the night, which was a dead giveaway of illegal activity. Probably with tools stolen from a nearby shuttered restaurant undergoing renovations, the perpetrator breached the 2-3 foot brick wall dividing the two buildings.

“This is something else. I opened the store at 10 in the morning and that’s when the boxes were down,” the store owner told reporters.

When the store owner found out about the burglary, he witnessed a horrific scene. There was a gap where years of labor and sacrifice had been lost; the boxes that had once held precious goods were now empty. The estimated value of the stolen gold and watches, though no precise inventory has been conducted yet, is $100,000.

In as many weeks, this is the store’s second attempt at breaking in. Two weeks ago, the last attempt was made, but it was not successful in reaching the back wall. The store owner expressed extreme frustration and despair, pointing out that a loss of this size might jeopardize the company’s long-term viability.

The owner added that “there’s no way to survive something like that when they’ve just taken all of your inventory out. It’s just like, you’ve been here for over thirty years and something like that happens. That’s it.”