According to a Victoria Police statement, four masked men stopped outside the jewellery store in a stolen car on 18 April at approximately 10:30am.
One of the men attempted to smash the front door of the store with a sledgehammer but retreated when they saw a security guard approach from inside.
Holloway Diamonds owner Garry Holloway told Jeweller there were four staff members in the store at the time standing about one-and-a-half metres away from the door.
Holloway, who also operates a jewellery store in Canterbury, explained that the security guard walked towards the front of the store and raised his gun, which forced the four would-be robbers to leave.
Holloway added he had spent more than $50,000 this year in an attempt to make both stores more secure. These measures included employing full time on-site security guards as well as installing metal bars on doors, air locks, bullet-proof glass and most-recently smoke screen units and debilitating sirens.
“We have just installed two Smoke Cloak units in each store – four in total – that will fill the shops with smoke in about seven seconds,” he said.
Ongoing concerns
The attempted raid follows successful robberies at the Holloway Diamonds Canterbury store on 12 January and 24 March this year.
The incidents add to an increasing number of jewellery retailers that have been targets of brazen daylight attacks across Melbourne.
Victoria Police senior constable Alistair Parsons told Jeweller that Victoria Police was working closely with the industry to enhance security.
“From an enforcement perspective, we are running operations in each of the three regions being affected by this crime – Southern Metro, North West Metro and Eastern Metro – to ensure that we arrest the offenders quickly, support victims of this crime and deter future offending,” Parsons said.
He added that the investigation into the attempted Holloway Diamonds robbery was ongoing. Anyone with information regarding the incident was urged to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.
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