Jewelry thieves strike North Van morning before Stanley Cup riots
A North Vancouver department store was robbed of an undisclosed amount of jewelry June 15, only hours before Stanley Cup rioters looted stores in downtown Vancouver.
Cpl Richard De Jong, spokesman for the North Vancouver RCMP, said police were called to investigate a triggered alarm at the Lynn Valley Town Centre around 1:30 a.m.
When officers arrived, De Jong said they discovered the rear door to Zellers had been tampered with. Inside the store, police found a number of glass jewelry cases shattered and product missing.
In an interview with The Outlook, De Jong said police don’t have any suspects.
He said police arrived at Zellers within eight to 10 minutes of the initial call, at which point the suspects had already fled the scene. Security cameras were filming, but because of the time of night they were unable to get a clear shot of the suspects, he said.
“The case is still under investigation,” he said. “We take these kinds of incidents very seriously.”
Freda Colbourne, a spokesperson for the Hudson’s Bay Company, confirmed in an email Wednesday that there was a break-in at the store. Thieves gained access through an emergency fire exit, she said.
The company isn’t providing estimates of how much jewelry is missing.
Anyone with information about the incident is asked to call the North Vancouver RCMP detachment at 604-985-1311.
Anonymous tips can be made to Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477 or online at www.bccrimestoppers.com. Tips that lead to an arrest and conviction are eligible for a reward up to $2,000.
ghoekstra@northshoreoutlook.com
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