Thieves Steal $20 Million Worth of Jewelry from L.A. Shop After Tunneling Through Concrete

Los Angeles jewelry store Love Jewels was robbed of around $20 million worth of jewelry during a daring heist on Sunday, April 13.

Around 10 p.m., local time on Sunday, an unknown number of suspects entered the store through a large hole they created through a three-foot brick wall from a neighboring vacant building, per Fox 11. “They tunneled through multiple levels of concrete into the target location,” LAPD officer David Cuellar said.

The suspects exited through the same hole and fled in a Chevy truck. No alarms went off and no footage was captured as the in-store security cameras were cut, the store owner’s son said, per Fox 11.

“They were able to disable the cameras, disable the alarm and they were able to get into both the safes,” the son told NBC 4. “They probably had five, six hours in here.”

On Monday, April 14, Love Jewels employees discovered that the two large safes with all the store’s merchandise had been stolen.

It was initially estimated that $10 million worth of merchandise was stolen, per Cuellar. However, the store owner told the Associated Press that the loss was around $20 million. The owner confirmed that they did not have insurance. 

On Tuesday, April 15, the employees covered the hole in the wall with a metal plate. They also cleaned up and repaired the other damage around the store. 

“They probably went in there every night, slowly dug it until there was enough room for them to get in,” the store owner’s son told NBC 4.

“It took over 20 years for my father to accumulate all that and overnight it was all taken. Mostly just gold, chains, we specialize in gold, so chains and bracelets. And especially with gold today, it’s at an all-time high. It’s a bad hit. I was telling them let’s get out of the business,” the store owner’s son told Fox 11.

“In the gold business, you reinvest everything so all our money was what was in the safe,” the son told NBC 4.

“We’re penniless, literally penniless,” the store’s owner told NBC 4.

The LAPD and FBI are investigating the incident.

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Representatives for Love Jewels, the LAPD and the FBI did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for more information on Tuesday.