NEWS BY MAIL

Hokitika Guardian, 23 August 1921, Page 3

NEWS BY MAIL

£20,000 JEWEL HAUL. PARTS, June 20. •Jewels valued at £20,000, including » magnificent set of diamond solitaires, were stolen just after 8 a.m, to-day by nq armed gang who smashed the win- j dow of a jeweller’s shop in a street where, many people were walking. A large black motor ear drew up outside the jeweller’s shop in the Boulevard St Martin and four young men wearing caps got ‘Out. Two bad revolvers, a third a rifle, and the other a mallet and a sack. Three men deliberately fired several shots up and down the boulevard, and the frightened passers-by fled into doorway*. Meanwhile, the fourth man smashed the glass window and swept several trays full of jewellery into his sack. Tn half a minute the' men were back in the car with their booty, firing several shots at people who rushed up to try to stop them. The manager oi the shop, who was | inside with two workmen, went out, automatic pistol in hand, as the ear ] drove off. He fired a shot which went: through a small glass window in the hack of the car and shattered the wind | screen. . The motor-car was found later in the | morning abandoned in a side street n'U j far away. It was identified as having been stolen less than three hours be foie the robbery. In it were found the weapons used by the thieves and two wallets, one with a Barcelona trade mark. ; Residents of the street say they saw the thieves drive off in a car which was waiting and that as revolver shots uere | heard it was supposed that a light had j broken out between them. ______ i