US: Thieves break into Apple store through bathroom of adjacent shop, steal 436 iPhones worth $500,000
The hole made by the thieves in the bathroom of the coffee shop to enter the Apple store
Straight out of a slick Hollywood heist movie, two burglars in the US state of Washington managed to break into an Apple store and steal as many as 436 units of iPhones, costing approximately $500,000.
The incident transpired at the Apple Store in the Alderwood Mall, Seattle when the facility was closed. The thieves did their homework and managed to sneak in by cutting a hole in the bathroom wall of a coffee shop next door to enter the backroom of the Apple store. The clever manoeuvre allowed the burglars to bypass Apple's security system.
The Apple security team as well as the shop employees had no information about the stolen merchandise until they arrived for work the next day.
Lynwood Police confirmed that apart from the iPhones, Apple merchandise worth thousands of dollars was also stolen by the crafty thieves.
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“Approximately 436 iPhones in total were taken out of the back. As of right now, no [fingerprints] have been found and the subjects entered wearing masks,” Lynwood Police Department Communications Manager Maren McKay was quoted as saying by Fox News.
“No arrests have been made at this point, but detectives are currently investigating any information and leads.”
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Surprised the Apple shop was adjacent: Coffee shop worker
Eric Marks, the regional retail manager of the Coffee shop expressed surprise at the robbery and said even he did not know that the shop was adjacent to the Apple store.
“[It was a] 24-by-18 hole cut in the wall into what appears to be the back room of the Apple Store. I’m surprised we were the conduit for them to get to the Apple Store. I had no clue we were so close or adjacent to them," Marks was quoted as saying by Seattle's local news channel, King 5 News.
“Our front door was locked. They pried our front door open,” said Marks, adding that the break-in will cost the store around $2,000 in repairs.
Meanwhile, Seattle Coffee Gear CEO Mike Atkinson took to Twitter to post a picture of the hole made in his shop's bathroom.
"Two men broke into one of our retail locations. Why? To cut a hole in our bathroom wall to access the Apple Store next door and steal $500k worth of Iphones," tweeted Atkinson.
Apple products are known to be expensive with the latest iPhone 14 starting at around $699. The thieves could easily be able to sell them in the black market and reap huge profits.
(With inputs from agencies)
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