Thieves reportedly stole more than $200,000 worth of iPhones from an Australian Apple store in an early morning raid Tuesday.
According to police, a gang smashed its way into a store in Perth at 2:15 a.m. After being disturbed and fleeing empty-handed, they headed to another store. They broke into this second Apple store in Garden City in Booragoon at 3 a.m., and made off with the handset haul after threatening a security guard.
The thieves were supposedly disturbed by a taxi at the first store in Perth’s city center. Arriving staff had to clean up the broken glass, but decided to keep the store open.
The thieves then broke into the second store in the early morning hours, and threatened a security guard with a blunt weapon. Within a couple of minutes, they stole more than AU$300,000 ($201,750) in iPhones and escaped.
Detective Senior Constable Matt Whelan said the suspects are believed to be men. They wore dark clothing for the robberies. “Two vehicles believed to be linked to these incidents were found burnt out in the southern suburbs earlier today,” he said.
He made a plea to the public, saying that those buying black market iPhones are “ultimately causing these burglaries to occur.” As a result, he said that it “makes this group of people want to do this again.”
A target for thieves
Apple stores unfortunately continue to be a regular target for thieves. Last month, an Apple store in the San Francisco Bay Area was targeted in a snatch-and-grab robbery in which 16 iPhones were stolen. The same month, police arrested two people for a brazen robbery at a U.K. Apple store that left customers shaken.
The most significant Apple store robberies took place in California in 2018. These resulted in the theft of more than $1 million worth of devices. Police ultimately nabbed a gang of 17 people.
It’s not clear what the answer is to the problem. Unfortunately, the glass frontage of Apple stores, combined with the high resale value of Apple devices, makes stores a target. Hopefully a solution can be found at some point.
Source: The West
