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Several people have already been jailed in relation to the brazen Auckland robberies
Jeweller confesses to receiving stolen jewellery
 2.6 k views | Posted June 19, 2012 |
A jeweller has pleaded guilty to charges of receiving stolen jewellery
in relation to a robbery in Auckland last year that affected jewellery
suppliers from Sydney and Hong Kong.
An American jeweller pleaded guilty to receiving stolen jewellery while she was in Auckland. The jeweller, who was travelling with her daughter, a qualified gemmologist, was not involved in the actual robberies, but New Zealand Police discovered hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of stolen jewellery in her luggage before she returned to the US.
The goods were part of two robberies in April 2011 when in two separate incidents, thieves assaulted and robbed visiting Sydney and Hong Kong jewellery suppliers.
The conviction continues New Zealand Police’s impressive work on the two robberies, with several Colombian criminals already convicted with almost all of the stolen jewellery being recovered.
Evidence presented to the court uncovered an elaborate international operation, with the group of thieves, who entered New Zealand on Mexican and United States passports, buying and renting several cars to follow and attack jewellery suppliers who were visiting Auckland.
John Wertheim, managing director of Sydney’s J.S. Landau Diamonds, was the first to be targeted when he was robbed of $110,000 worth of jewellery. The thieves smashed into his car taking the jewellery while he was in the car.
Two weeks later, Chin Fung Ng and Aska Lo from Hong Kong company Jewel Arts Ltd were the next victims, when the thieves attacked them and stole backpacks containing $660,000 worth of jewellery.
The three thieves, Cesar Orlando Romero, Javier Espinosa Agreda, Jose Roberto Jimenez-Perez, and Juan Carlos Leal Casillas, were soon caught and handed heavy sentences by the Auckland District Court, with three years and six months jail for the two aggravated robberies.
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International jewellery thief pleads guilty
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