An Indian-owned jewelry store, Bhindi Jewelers in Newark was robbed on Wednesday, May 29. More than a dozen thieves entered the shop, located off Cedar Boulevard, and grabbed as much jewelry as they could. The robbery follows a similar smash-and-grab robbery at Nitin Jewelers in Sunnyvale on May 4.
Bhindi Jewelers was founded by Karsanji Bhindi, a fifth-generation goldsmith, who emigrated from India to the Fiji Islands and started a jewelry business in the city of Suva. His sons Vinod, Jayent, and Dhanesh then expanded the business to North America starting in 1975. Today, Bhindi Jewelers has showrooms in Los Angeles and Atlanta, apart from its Newark location.
The robbery was caught on CCTV cameras within the Bhindi Jewelers store. According to a source who was present at the scene of the crime, 15-17 thieves entered the store with hammers sometime after noon, and started breaking display cases and grabbing whatever they could. In the commotion that followed, a security siren rang out, startling the burglars. Carrying armloads of jewelry to the parking lot, they then made their getaways in different cars. Some of the jewelry dropped by the robbers while escaping, was later recovered from the parking lot. The source wished to remain anonymous.
According to reports, the police believe this to be an organized, coordinated operation. They have recovered two of the getaway’ cars abandoned in Fremont. Both the cars were stolen.
This series was made possible in part by funding provided by the State of California, administered by the California State Library in partnership with the California Department of Social Services and the California Commission on Asian and Pacific Islander American Affairs as part of the Stop the Hate program.