STOLEN JADE BOULDER NOT WORTH THIEVES' TIME, OWNER SAYS

The owner of a gift store in British Columbia's southern Interior says no one will benefit if a jade boulder stolen from the front of her shop is carved up by thieves. The nearly 1,300-kilogram slab of jade was taken from the front of the store in Cache Creek on Saturday and owner Heidi Roy suspects the crooks don't know they wasted effort on something that has only sentimental value.

The big rock has been in front of Cariboo Jade and Gifts since Roy bought the store in 1985, and she says while the metre-high slab has become a tourist attraction, it is lowgrade and worthless as semi-precious stone. A pickup was captured on surveillance video carrying off. “If we had a million-dollar rock, we wouldn't be working seven days a week,” Roy said.