Police are on the hunt for a girl as young as 12 and three adults allegedly involved in a $4.6-million diamond heist that targeted a luxury jewelry store in Hong Kong.
The three adults distracted sales staff by pretending to browse for items in a branch of Emperor Watch and Jewelry, a chain store popular with Chinese tourists, on Friday afternoon, while a girl, estimated to be aged between 12 and 14 years, pocketed a 117-carat diamond necklace from a store front display cabinet, police told CNN.
While exact details of how the girl shoplifted the necklace are still under investigation, local media reports said the girl stole a key from a drawer to open the display cabinet while the adult accomplices kept staff busy.
“The three adults posed as big spenders and demanded employees show them jewelry in an apparent move to divert staff attention,” an anonymous police source told the South China Morning Post.
According to security footage stills, a girl appears walking calmly out of the mall with her hands stuffed in the pockets of her grey hooded sweatshirt.
Since the robbery, extra security guards have been deployed outside the store. A spokesperson from the jewelry store told CNN business continued as usual.
“Our first and foremost priority is to comply with the police investigation, but we still have to wait for the results to see what measures can be taken to strengthen the security level,” he said.