Thieves climb jewellers for ‘James Bond’ watches

THIEVES staged a daring raid on a city jewellers which stocks valuable watches including the Omega model worn by James Bond star Daniel Craig.

They made off with a number of expensive watches from the Beaverbrooks store at Fort Kinnaird yesterday.

Police are hunting the robbers who used ropes to scale on to its roof for the break-in.

After entering the store, they selected watches – including Tag Heuer, Breitling and Omega models – from the displays before escaping.

Staff at the store are now carrying out a stock check to establish exactly what merchandise was taken and its value. It is believed the thieves targeted several high-price items. Officers are now examining CCTV from the area as part of their investigation.

Detective Sergeant John Graham said: “While work is still ongoing to find out exactly what has been taken, it would seem there’s been a significant quantity of items taken worth a lot of money.

“We are appealing for anyone who may have been in the area early this morning and who may have seen something suspicious to contact us.”

Anyone with any information is asked to contact Police Scotland on 101 or through Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.

A Beaverbrooks employee last night said they were unable to comment on the break-in.

A former detective, who investigated both shop and home break-ins during his time on the force, said: “These were most likely experienced thieves. Someone didn’t just fetch some rope from their garage and decide to do this.

“With this type of break-in, it’s often professionals who travel around the country looking for targets.

“Going on to the roof is actually less exposed in some ways. It gives you a longer amount of time to effect entry if there are other security measures in place.

“Some stores don’t think about security on the roof. They are prepared for guys going in when the shop is open, or smashing their way in the front doors or windows.

“Detectives will also be checking CCTV from inside the store from the recent past. Whoever did this almost certainly visited the shop to check the internal security and get an idea of what they wanted to steal.

“They sound as if they have been quite selective.”

In December, a gang carried out a series of overnight break-ins on the Royal Mile in which thousands of pounds in cash and cigarettes were seized.

Four stores were raided within 36 hours by thieves able to bypass triple-lock fire doors and cut power and phone lines to prevent alarms sounding.