A gang of about 15 men, women and children carried out a bizarre raid at a family-run shop in Bedworth.
Some of them created a diversion by crowding around the counter at a store in Bedworth asking for different items from the shelves.
They even spent £150 distracting staff at Bedworth Food and Wine, in Goodyers End Lane.
While this was happening, a woman sneaked upstairs to steal thousands of pounds of cash and jewellery.
Some of the group entered the shop at 9.30am on Saturday August 20 and told staff they were moving to the area and needed new things while others stood outside acting as lookouts.
After a few minutes staff were so distracted that one of the women got into the back of the shop, where owner Narrayanan Navaratnasamy, 31, lives with his family.
She spent 17 minutes ransacking the upstairs bedroom, loading £4,200 in cash and £15,000 of jewellery into a briefcase before throwing it out of an upstairs window to other gang members.
Narrayanan didn’t find out that his shop had been targeted until 1pm, when he asked his wife to pack him some clothes for a trip to Switzerland, where he was due to attend a family party.
He spotted the tell-tale signs of a break-in and checked CCTV footage.
It wasn’t until later the family discovered that the jewellery, belonging to Narrayanan’s mother Kanagama, 55, had gone missing.
She had only arrived in the country from Sri Lanka three days previously, so she could celebrate her birthday with family.
Narrayanan, who also owns a shop in Coventry city centre, said: “When we started looking into it we discovered that there had been another similar incident in Nuneaton.
“We want other shopkeepers to be aware that this sort of thing is going on.
“I’ve been doing this for a long time and we’ve never had anything quite like this.”
After the incident Narrayanan checked his shop’s CCTV cameras and reported the burglary to police who are investigating.
They have owned the shop for two years.
Narrayanan had got some of the cash out to pay for a trip to Switzerland, but £1,700 of it had been put aside to pay for his mortgage.
Customer Monica Anne Cole, 75, was in the shop when the gang struck.
She said: “They were crowding around the counter asking for lots of things from shelves in the corner.
“They couldn’t say what they wanted so they were acting things out.
“They were as casual as you like. They were a crafty lot, they made lots of noise too which was obviously all part of the act.
“The couple who work here are really genuine hard-working people. They don’t deserve this.”
If you know anything about this incident call Warwickshire Police on 01926 415000.
Posted: Tue Aug 30, 2011 12:34 pm