Hong Kong: The robbers used a hammer to break cabinets, stealing millions of Hong Kong dollars worth of assets in two jewelry shops during the daytime, in less than 24 hours.

On the afternoon of December 1, four masked bandits broke down glass cases at a jewelry store in To Kwa Wan Bay and stole gold jewelry worth HKD 2 million (US $ 255,000) before boarding a taxi by their accomplices. runaway controls.

At 11 pm today, a similar robbery happened at Fook Tai store, Sham Shui Po district, in which two suspects brought knives and sledgehammers into the store.

"The two men used a hammer to break the glass in display cabinets and jewelry stalls before fleeing on a white car," a police spokesman said, adding that the amount of property robbed was HK $ 3 million. 380,000 USD)

Police are investigating the link between the two robberies and whether the perpetrator was the gang that caused the robbery of jewelry and cash in November. Investigators are scouring security cameras for clues and have found a sledgehammer the bandits left behind in the store.

The number of robberies in Hong Kong has been on an upward trend since the summer, as all police resources are mobilized to deal with protests against the extradition bill. Since August, special police have stopped patrolling the streets because of a lack of people and fear of protesters attacking. Instead, they patrol by car.

On November 17, a robbery occurred in the town of Tsuen Wan, with four bandits using knives and shotguns to intimidate the employees. They smashed glass cabinets and fled with 2.5 million HKD ($ 320,000) of jewelry and cash.

In 2017 and 2018, many major robberies occurred, causing Hong Kong jewelry shops to increase security. Figures show that the number of robberies increased by 5.3% to 53 from June to September this year, compared with 46 in the same period last year. The number of burglaries also increased 48.8% to 720.

Last March, Hong Kong police each held three Colombian tourists stealing 40 million HKD ($ 5 million) of jewelry.