These robbers put some thought into this heist.
The daylight holdup occurred just after 11:30 a.m. Saturday at Ehrhart’s Jewelers in Denton.
At first, a man walked up to the business and an employee hit a buzzer to allow him inside, but he held the door open as two other men -- men in masks -- jumped out of a red car and stormed the store.
Domingo Ramirez Jr. has more in this report.
-- Bill Miller
Swift and with near-deadly violence.
That's how a group of masked men robbed an estimated $1 million worth of diamonds Thursday from an out-of-state broker visiting Galleria Dallas.
A red sports utility vehicle blocked the departure of the man from the fourth floor of a parking garage at the upscale shopping mall in far north Dallas.
Four men, one had a gun, got out and pulled the broker from his vehicle. They stabbed him twice, pulled his clothes off and fled with his diamonds.
No arrests were reported Friday, but the broker was expected to recover from his wounds, police said.
It's a familiar modus operandi of the so-called South American theft groups that, in recent years, specialized in violent robberies of traveling diamond dealers.
Dallas Police Sgt. Ross Salverino said police don't surmise that all of these thieves are necessarily from South America . He noted that some of the suspects who have been caught in earlier robberies were from other countries, like Mexico, and even the U.S.
But industry observers say that South Americans, and Colombians in particular, were the ones who originated these violent, quick-hit heists.
A Houston detective told the Star-Telegram in 2003 that the thieves are recruited by the same Colombian organizations that traffic in drugs.
"It's all hooked up," the detective said. "Drugs, obviously, are the No. 1 thing, but jewel theft is kind of a sideline for their organizations."
The typical thief is a young adult male, although it's common for a woman to be a part of a group of five or six members, the detective said.
"This is one of the largest, most efficient, well-organized robbery rings that I have ever seen," he said. "They are the best, without a doubt.
"They don't kill people, and I think this is deliberate because if they do, it'll bring attention to them. But if you do resist, they will use violence.
"If you shoot at them, they will shoot back."
Salverino said Dallas experiences two or three of these crimes each year, but similar reports are made in any city where loose diamonds are part of high-end commerce.
But they don't have to be attack often -- not if they can take down $1 million each time they strike.
For more information, see the Web sites of the South American Theft Group Intelligence Network, the Jeweler's Security Alliance, and the FBI's Jewelry and Gem (JAG) Program.
-- Bill Miller
