A quartet of criminals stole, at the point of a gun, some $ 100,000 worth of jewelry from a pawn shop in downtown Montreal on Thursday, just hours before Christmas.
At the end of the morning, a man showed up at the Comptant.com chain branch on rue Sainte-Catherine Ouest, in downtown Montreal, where he pretended to be interested in the merchandise displayed in the shops. displays.
It is possible to see the thief, on a video recorded by a surveillance camera, spend a few minutes in front of the jewelry display, chat with an employee and go so far as to try on a watch and a chain.
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“He tried on jewelry and he was asking questions. At the same time, he was sending text messages to his accomplices, ”Jayson Tessier, director of operations at Comptant.com, told the QMI Agency.
After a few minutes of this merry-go-round, three other people entered the shop. Two of these men went to join their partner at the jewelry counter, while the third stood in the front door, to keep watch.
“One of the men, the big one, had a gun that he leaned against the manager’s ribs,” Tessier said. The thieves then awkwardly placed the jewelry displays in bags, before heading off.
Obviously, the events shook the two employees who were in the business. “The manager was in tears,” admitted Mr. Tessier.
Not a first
The theft has been reported to the police, who are examining the case. Investigators and a forensic identification technician notably went to the scene to assess the crime scene. They hope the videotapes can help them find the suspects, said Caroline Chèvrefils, spokesperson for the Montreal Police Department.
None of the four suspects had been identified or arrested by late afternoon.
The shops of the pawnshop chain are not at their first run-in with thieves, a similar event having recently occurred at a branch on rue Sherbrooke. However, it was the first time in 15 years that an armed robbery was committed in the branch on Sainte-Catherine Street, said Mr. Tessier.
Earlier this month, two thugs targeted the Monk Street branch. The two men had sprayed the manager of the shop with cayenne pepper, before running away with $ 30,000 in jewelry.
Both were, however, arrested just hours later, in their home less than a kilometer from the crime scene, reported TheJournal of Montreal.
![[VIDÉO] $ 100,000 in jewelry stolen in downtown armed robbery](https://i0.wp.com/m1.quebecormedia.com/emp/emp/holdupef65acd6-9fb5-4699-b063-3d1d9f8426e3_ORIGINAL.jpg?fit=%2C&ssl=1 "[VIDÉO] $ 100,000 in jewelry stolen in downtown armed robbery")
