Masked raiders hit Nadi store

Thursday, January 10, 1985

SIX masked raiders, wearing gloves and armed with cane knives and bottles, broke into a Nadi jewellery shop early yesterday and stole jewellery worth about $18,000.

They chased away a hired security guard, smashed the windows of a Wormald Security van and police vehicle and injured a police constable before they escaped with the stolen jewellery. The thieves broke into the jewellery shop, Gold Industries Fiji Ltd, at the corner of Nadi’s Main St and Sagayam Rd, leading to Nadi Sangam Primary School at 2.50am.

Witnesses said the raiders escaped in a white station wagon and a truck when the police swarmed around the area. The police gave chase but the raiders escaped with the loot.

The shop’s proprietor, Parshotam Jiwan, said a neighbour who saw the break-in from his home opposite his shop at about 3am and phoned him.

Mr Jiwan said people who saw the robbery told him it was like “watching a movie”. The raiders entered the outside office door on Sagayam Rd.

Witnesses told him the truck engine was left running nosily to drown the sound of glass being smashed. Thieves used cane knives and bottles to chase away passer-by, policemen, security men and others who went to investigate.

A police spokesman, Deputy Superintendent, Krishna Kumar, said a police constable who was one of the first people to arrive on the scene received a gash on his hand when one of the masked raiders threw a broken bottle at him. The police gave chase down the main street with sirens screaming but they lost the thieves.