By Ritu Jha-
In a daring daylight robbery on Wednesday, May 29, afternoon, over a dozen people robbed Bhindi Jewelers in Newark, California, and got away. This is the second such heist by a gang of robbers within a month. The first incident took place in Sunnyvale, May 4. Now the owner is asking that the FBI should look into this matter.
There are some marked similarities in the modus operandi of both the robberies. In both incidents, the gang of robbers walked into the store, smashed glass display cases with sledgehammers, and grabbed as much as they could within minutes, and fled away.
Perpetrators of the Bhindi Jewelers robbery walked into the outlet at 1pm according to Newark police spokesperson Captain Jolie Macias. She told indica over the phone that no firearms were involved. There were at least a dozen people involved, and they came in multiple vehicles.
“No arrests have been made yet,” the officer said. “I cannot give any kind of opinion on whether this was targeted at Asians or South Asians. I think this was just because it was a jewelry store. I don’t think it had anything specifically to do with ethnicity, as far as we can assess.”
“We take such incidents very seriously, and the investigation has been assigned immediately to our detective unit,” Captain Macias told indica that they are working on all leads, processing the scene thoroughly for anything of evidentiary value. “We are also asking the public that if anybody has any information to share, they can reach out to our detectives,” the officer said.
The armed men smashed the doors and display cases, and stole gold and diamond jewelry, and Rolex watches.
A video of the aftermath of the robbery is being shared on social media. In the video, a voice can be heard saying, “Fifteen people just started smashing away. Luckily nobody is hurt. One suspect ran towards the mall, the other towards the high school.”
In a similar incident, a group of robbers looted Sunnyvale jewelry store Nitin Jewelers on May 4, around 1 pm. Police believe that there were as many as 12 suspects and that at least one of them had a gun. Nitin Jewelers is one of the oldest Indian American-run jewelry stores located at El Camino Real in the city of Sunnyvale, California.
Nitin Soni, the owner of the Nitin Jewelers in Sunnyvale, told indica after learning about the robbery at Bhindi Jewelers (indica chose to go with the official website name than the one in the image), “Police are doing nothing, they do not seem serious about financial crimes. They are only interested if somebody is hurt. After the robbery at Sunnyvale, this is the second such incident. That clearly shows that the police failed.”
“Nobody fears the police, we demand an FBI investigation into the case,” Soni told indica. “They failed to protect us.”
Asked about any update he had received from Sunnyvale, police said that though they recovered some jewelry samples and showed me, they have not arrested anybody to date. The way they are conducting the investigation looks very casual.
“I want my jewelry to be recovered, any further delay will give more time to the robbers to melt and sell the rest of the jewelry,” the owner of Bhindi Jewelers told indica.
Afraid of their safety and that of the valuables displayed at the shop, Nitin Jewelers are investing in bulletproof glasses for their display cases.
Soni told indica, “We will put bulletproof glasses, and collapsible metal gates to prevent such people from coming in. We will also ask for identity cards from people who come to our shop, but increasing security measures is not the answer. Arresting these people and punishing them is the only way.”
“I don’t have any updates to share. We’re still actively investigating the robbery. I don’t have any information to suggest the robbery committed in Sunnyvale is connected to the one in Newark at this time,” Dzanh K. Le, Captain, Bureau of Special Operations, Sunnyvale Department of Public Safety told indica via email.
