Walkerville jewellery store Class A Jewellers survives robbery attempt by bungling thieves

Masked robbers who smashed their way into a Walkerville jewellery store were always doomed to fail in stealing anything, the owner says. Find out why.

The owner of a Walkerville jewellery store targeted in a smash and grab attempt says his heavily fortified business meant the heist was always going to be a “pointless exercise”.

Police were called to Class A Jewellers on North East Rd around 2:30am on Thursday morning after an alarm activation.

On their arrival they found a large amount of damage and broken glass around the front door of the building, but the bungling thieves were unable to force their way into the store itself.

CCTV footage from the business showed three masked men attempting to break-in to the premises, smashing through the front foyer doors, before leaving empty-handed when the bullet proof door to the store itself wouldn’t give way.

The men smashed their way through front doors but were then foiled by the shop’s extreme security measures. Picture: SA Police

Class A Jewellers recently completed a renovation, which saw 16mm thick bullet proof glass installed in the front of the premises.

Owner Brad Mucklow told FIVEAA that the break-in was a “pointless exercise” as there was “nothing to steal”.

“Everything is packed away at night in our vault, so the effort and the damage that they do for no reward is just frustrating,” he said.

Mr Mucklow said the renovations had only been completed two weeks ago, and had come at great expense to Class A.

“They’ve attempted to get in through our main glass door and we spent a lot of money on that, that weighs 400kg.”

“It’s a lot of money to spend, but it’s certainly come to fruition when something like this happens.”

Class A Jewellers new showroom at Walkerville. Picture: Supplied

He said the door is a special armoured glass rated as shotgun proof and ram-raid proof.

Mr Mucklow told FIVEAA police had identified one suspect using the CCTV footage, which he described as “comforting”.

Despite the incident, Mr Mucklow said Class A’s business wouldn’t be affected in the lead up to Christmas.

“Nothing in the store has been affected, everything is still secure, and we’ll just trade as normal,” he said.

Police officers searched the area with the help of dog Rusty, who picked up a trail running east along Fuller St.

Rusty then found an empty backpack in a local church garden.

Originally published as Walkerville jewellery store Class A Jewellers survives robbery attempt by bungling thieves