Police are searching for a group of jewelry thieves who did thousands of dollars in damage when they drove a stolen vehicle through the doors of Coquitlam Centre mall early Friday morning to rob a Ben Moss store.
The incident occurred shortly after 5 a.m. when, according to police, at least four masked suspects were spotted on surveillance footage leaving the scene with a significant amount of stolen property. A fifth person is believed to have used a second stolen vehicle to act as a getaway driver.
"They were able to drive the vehicle into the mall," said Coquitlam RCMP Sgt. Tim Sylvestri. "We don't have a full stolen property list but it looks like they committed a fairly significant theft."
The suspects also attempted to rob Dallany Jewellery Designs but were not able to get into the store.
A stolen vehicle the thieves used to flee the scene was found in Coquitlam off Dewdney Trunk Road shortly after police were called. There, police believe the group used a third stolen vehicle to leave that area and that was later found abandoned in another part of the city.
Sylvestri said the mall has 24-hour security and several employees at some of the major anchor stores were in the building when the incident occurred.
"Nobody was in danger," he said. "[The suspects] didn't wander too far from where they abandoned the vehicle inside the mall. The vehicle was stuck in there."
Anyone with any information is asked to call the Coquitlam RCMP at 604-945-1550.
