Five thieves stole $48,300 worth of goods from a high-end boutique in the SoHo neighborhood of Manhattan in broad daylight on Thursday, according to reports.

The robbery occurred at Celine Boutique on Wooster Street at approximately 12:30 p.m., police say, per WABC. Two of the suspects entered the store under the pretense they were shopping, and after a time, they pretended to leave the store, prompting a security guard to open the door, New York City Police (NYPD) say.

At that point, authorities say three other suspects forced their way into the store past the guard, who attempted to close the door on them, according to the New York Daily News. The guard injured his thumb and elbow amidst the bedlam.

The suspects fled in a Toyota Venza, WABC reports.

Police said the suspects stole $48,300 worth of handbags, according to the New York Post. As of Friday night, the five suspects remained at large.

In 2020, thieves made off with $1.5 million worth of goods from the store during a looting spree following the death of George Floyd, per the Post. 

The Celine Boutique robbery comes as robberies and burglaries have seen substantial upticks in New York City in 2022 compared to the same time period in 2021.

As of January 30, robberies were up a whopping 32.9 percent, the NYPD’s crime statistics show. Last year, the NYPD reported 907 robberies city-wide through January 30, opposed to the 1,205 reported for the same period in 2022. Burglaries were also up, by a 6.2 percent increase. Through January 30 of this year, 1,144 burglaries were reported by the NYPD, as opposed to 1,077 in 2021.

In recent months organized thefts and smash-and-grab robberies have taken place in metro areas throughout the country.

A group of thieves used hammers to break glass display cases in a jewelry store in San Jose, California on January 3, according to the New York Post. The group reportedly made off with $100,000 in jewelry from Credit Jewelers.

During Thanksgiving week last November, mobs of looters hit stores in California cities, Chicago, and Minneapolis, Breitbart News reported.