"Wall Thieves" Thwarted by Jeweler's Reinforced Safe

(IDEX Online) - Thieves broke into a jewelry store through the wall of the next-door business, but were thwarted by a reinforced safe.

It was the latest in a spate of "wall-entry burglaries".

The raiders tunneled their way into the bathroom of Neda Jewelry, Sherman Oaks, in California's San Fernando Valley.

But they found that the owner had covered the safe in "heavy metals".

Surveillance video shows the raiders smashing credit card machines in frustration. They then fled empty-handed.

The owner was alerted by cameras in the early hours of 17 April.

"We are afraid. We can't sleep. Night to morning, we watch the camera," he told CBS News. He said the safe had been reinforced after an earlier raid on the store in 2023.

The Jewelers' Security Alliance's (JSA) annual crime report for 2024 recorded 53 wall or roof-entry burglaries, an increase from 20 from the previous year.

A number of other retailers in the San Fernando Valley have been targeted recently and LAPD is stepping up air and ground patrols.

Screengrab courtesy CBS News shows the hole through which the raiders broke in.