Recently, a shocking home burglary occurred in the Jamaica Hills neighborhood of Queens, New York. The thieves, disguised as workers, brazenly entered a residence and made off with a safe containing jewelry and family heirlooms, resulting in a loss of up to $3.2 million for the victimized family. The devastated family expressed that the thieves had “taken everything from us.”
The incident took place around 2:30 p.m. on October 16th in the area of 160th Street and 84th Avenue within the jurisdiction of the 107th Precinct. Surveillance footage captured two men dressed in bright yellow reflective work clothes and hard hats, with another individual wearing a white hooded sweatshirt, all with their faces covered. Initially attempting to enter through a second-floor window with a ladder, they resorted to prying open the back door to gain access to the residence. Eventually, they made off with a large safe, fleeing in a blue Hyundai Elantra.
The homeowners are a Pakistani immigrant family who have been in the jewelry business for many years. The 24-year-old daughter of the victims tearfully recounted in an interview with ABC7 how the safe not only contained valuable jewelry but also irreplaceable family heirlooms passed down from her grandmother’s generation, including mementos from her childhood and that of her siblings. She lamented, “Inside were my mother’s treasures from childhood to adulthood, including our baby hair, footprints, hospital discharge documents, childhood videos—all gone. My mom was saving jewelry for our future, for our weddings. These things cannot be measured in money.”
Surveillance footage revealed the calm and deliberate manner in which the thieves, posing as workers, smoothly moved the safe.
The family is hopeful that the authorities will solve the case promptly and recover their stolen belongings. The mother, devastated by the blow, is heartbroken, with her daughter expressing, “In our culture, these jewels represent the financial security and legacy of the family. They didn’t just take property; they took years of hard work and beliefs from us.” “From having nothing to building everything through our own efforts, we are just a hard-working immigrant family. Such a thing should not happen to us.”
The police are urging anyone with information to call the Crime Stoppers hotline at 1-800-577-8477 or visit the Crime Stoppers website at https://crimestoppers.nypdonline.org to provide tips.