Three thieves waited until midnight on New Year’s Eve to pull off a $6 million heist of a New York City jewelry store, authorities said on Monday.
“Three hooded and masked men broke into a West 36th Street jewelry wholesaler at 12:01 a.m. Sunday” while 7,000 police officers were distracted in Times Square, the New York Post reported.
A police source said the heist was “100 percent” planned to be at the same time as the ball drop.
The thieves ran off with about $6 million worth of jewels and have yet to be caught, police sources said.
Police say it’s an inside job because the thieves didn’t crack the safes, according to the New York Daily News.
The thieves were caught on camera inside the sixth-floor offices of Gregg Ruth, a commercial jewelry store known for its rare pink and yellow diamonds, at about 10 p.m.
They used a freight entrance and a “hammer and crowbar” to break into the wholesaler’s offices just around midnight, police said.
They stole “gold and diamond rings, bracelets and necklaces” from two safes before they fled down the fire stairs.
The company reported the break-in at 3 p.m. on Sunday.
On Monday, police released surveillance video showing a bearded man wearing a hoodie and another man wearing a hoodie and mask who bashed the camera, UPI reports.
Since the break-in, a security guard has been keeping watch at the entrance to the building who had not been present before, according to the Post.
Gregg Ruth specializes in colored diamonds and imported stones, such as rare diamonds used for settings that sell for up to $150,000 a piece.