Thieves cut hole in bathroom wall, enter Apple Store, and steal 463 iPhones, some iPads and more
According to Seattle's KING-TV, an Apple Store located at the Alderwood Mall in Lynwood, Washington had 436 iPhone units, and an undisclosed number of iPad tablets, and Apple Watches stolen. The merchandise taken was valued at approximately $500,000. Two thieves entered the Seattle Coffee Gear store and cut a hole in the latter's bathroom giving them access to the Apple Store bypassing its alarm system.
It is not obvious that the Seattle Coffee Gear store is right next to the Apple Store just by eyeballing it which means that the thieves might have obtained blueprints of the mall to plan the heist. That thought was seconded by an executive of Seattle Coffee Gear. Eric Marks, the retailer's regional retail manager, said, "I would have never suspected we were adjacent to the Apple Store, how it wraps around I mean. So, someone really had to think it out and have access to the mall layout."
Seattle Coffee Gear sells coffee-making equipment and accessories such as Espresso machines, coffee makers, grinders, coffee beans, and more.
A surveillance film was collected by the cops, but as part of an ongoing investigation it can not be released to the public at this time. The Apple Store had no employees inside at the time of the robbery and the mall was closed for the night. While nothing was stolen from Seattle Coffee Gear, the hole in the wall and the broken locks will cost the store $1,500 to repair. Marks added that based on the way the thieves were able to cut through the coffee shop's bathroom wall without hitting any pipes, plenty of research went into this robbery.
On Twitter, Mike Atkinson, the CEO of Seattle Coffee Gear, said that the aforementioned surveillance video shows that it only took the two thieves less than 15 minutes to get in and out of the two stores.
A spokesman for Brookfield Properties, the company that owns the mall, said that mall ownership is "angry" about the incident and is "working with Lynnwood Police." It also called the incident an isolated event and spoke about its strong security program. Speaking of the Lynwood police, they said that the theft took place last Sunday after 7 pm local time and Apple Store employees were not aware of the theft until the next morning.
Lynwood Police called it a well-organized operation and said that no fingerprints were left behind. Apple has yet to comment on the theft.
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