[imagesource: Seth Gottfried]

New York has always been referred to as the city that never sleeps and the concrete jungle.

Indeed, one definitely gets the feeling that there is always an air of competitiveness coupled with strong survival instincts in the Big Apple.

This past weekend the owners of Cellini, a Park Avenue jewellery store, made the connection, too.

A trio of masked and armed men performed a brazen robbery in the early hours of Saturday night.

Fortunately, the New York Police Department managed to obtain dramatic footage from the incident:

The sledgehammer-armed robbers treated the empty store as if were their prey. They broke into the store with great force and wreaked havoc. I mean they completely destroyed everything that stood in their way. No shelf or display case was safe.

During the frenzy, the crooks used hammers to destroy the glass cases. After the damage had been done, they grabbed a handful of expensive jewellery and immediately threw it into a bag.

The pace at which the robbers moved was astounding. It’s almost as if they had another appointment elsewhere.

According to The New York Post, the thieves made off with more than an (estimated amount of) $500 000 in prized possessions – that’s just over R9 million.

The intruders’ haul included high-end baubles, diamond-encrusted earrings, pearl ovals, and pricey watches:

“A full inventory of the items removed is pending at this time,” cops said in a statement.”

To add insult to financial injury, the men left a trail of glass, fractured casing and other vestiges of destruction along their way.

The New York Post went on to report that the suspects are still on the loose and more alarmingly, no arrests have been made so far.

We know what that’s like.

[source:newyorkpost]