According to a former Flying Squad officer, a group of South American criminals is targeting jewelry shops across the UK with remarkable precision akin to military operations, before swiftly leaving the country.
The frequency of smash-and-grab incidents, like the recent one in Richmond, has surged from bi-monthly occurrences in 2025 to a startling two per week in 2026, with London being the location for half of these attacks.
In just the first six weeks of this year, retailers have lost over £2 million in necklaces, chains, and watches due to these thefts.
Sarah Staff, who previously served with the Metropolitan Police’s elite Flying Squad and now leads SaferGems—an intelligence and security initiative aiding jewelers—describes these South American thieves as highly skilled.
Speaking to LBC, Ms. Staff explained, “They have pre-arranged routes to quickly return to America or Europe to offload their loot.”
“In some cases, they manage to enter and leave the UK in less than 48 hours,” she added.
Alongside a sharp rise in the price of gold and silver, raids have dramatically increased since the start of the year.
In 2025, there were 22 robberies of jewellers across the UK. In January alone, however, there were 10 attacks on stores – five of which were in London.
Onlookers shared the moment hammer-wielding thieves broke into a Richmond jewellers in the broad daylight
Six burglaries and 13 thefts were also carried out in just the first four weeks of the year – making it the month with the highest robberies in the last ten years.
In Richmond last month, hammer-wielding thugs broke into a family-run jewellers and ransacked the window display while brave staff tried to fend them off.
Footage of the brazen west London daytime heist taken by an onlooker and shared widely on social media showed two men swinging a large hammer against the glass of the family-owned jewellers Gregory & Co.
They then peeled away the glass and filled a blue bag with all the valuables on display.
Staff members inside the shop desperately tried to claw back what they could before the thieves snatched it.
Bravely, the staff even hit the robbers with what appeared to be a small box to try and deter them from taking anymore goods – without much success.
The thugs then fled the scene as shocked bystanders watched on.
Police are yet to make any arrests in connection with the incident.
A woman went for help after finding her tyre flattened – while a suspected gang member followed her as part of a group of criminals using distraction tactics to steal thousands of pounds worth of jewellery
Custom handmade silver bracelets and a corresponding chain by bespoke jeweller Beckon Jewel were stolen from Stephanie, among other precious items
Ms Staff noted a significant increase in crimes linked to gold, adding: ‘All precious metals have gone up significantly in price but, in particular, gold is a very attractive commodity. It’s very easy to sell [and] it’s easy to melt down, hiding its origin and any unique marks on it.
‘A combination of that, in addition to high prices and global demand, is making this very attractive for criminal gangs… [they] use it in the criminal market for buying other commodities, using the gold rather than cash.’
Home Office minister Mike Tapp told LBC that they were taking the issue ‘extremely seriously’ and were working closely with the National Crime Agency to break up such criminal networks by arresting and deporting their members.
In February last year, a woman was left ‘heartbroken’ after being scammed out of thousands of pounds and valuable jewellery when pawning precious family gems to pay for her epileptic son’s treatment.
Stephanie Regan, 31, and her mother Mandy, 62, were the targets of an elaborate distraction theft in Brighton’s North Laine which saw them tricked by a group of six thieves collaborating to create chaos.
CCTV footage revealed the gang’s calculated attack, which began with suspected thieves loitering outside Michael Bloomstein jewellery shop on Gloucester Road, apparently scanning for victims.
Ms Regan and her mother, who suffers from emphysema and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, had pawned sentimental gold jewellery in order to pay for a life-changing seizure detector for Ms Regan’s epileptic son.
A Chilean gang travelled to the UK and posed as tourists to steal more than £80,000 worth of luxury items from affluent homes. Israel Contreras (pictured) was caught after his DNA was found on a broken angle grinder blade left at the scene of a burglary in Esher
Yeico Guzman Fernandez (pictured) had only been in the UK for a number of hours before he met up with the burglary gang to embark on an ‘offending spree’. Surrey Police Investigating officer, Sergeant Ben Deacon, said that he had ‘entered the UK with sole intention of thievery’
As well as money from the sold gems, Ms Regan – also a jeweller – had in her handbag other jewellery items yet to be valued, repaired, taken to the jewellery shop where she works or merely kept.
As they left the shop, a presumed gang member followed them to the car and placed a puncture device under the back wheel, designed to pierce the tyre upon driving.
The meticulously orchestrated scheme happened within three minutes and among the stolen items were thousands of pounds worth of gold and silver jewellery, some of which had yet to be valued.
In September last year, a gang of Chilean ‘burglary tourists’ who travelled to the UK to steal £80,000 worth of luxury items from homes in affluent neighbourhoods were jailed.
The group of burglars targeted at least 11 properties across Surrey and London from November 3 to December 11 last year, thieving watches, clothes, jewellery, and even unopened Christmas gifts.
To gain entry into the luxury properties during their month-long thieving spree, the crooks would often climb up to the first or second floors before forcing entry through windows or doors, Surrey Police said.
Video footage of one particular burglary captured the four thieves – Israel Contreras, Eduardo Marquez, Yeico Guzman Fernandez and Michael Carrasco, fleeing from a home by jumping out of a window and clambering over the back fence.
Fernandez had even travelled over from the UK from Chile with the ‘sole intention of thievery’ and embarked on an ‘offending spree’ with the group as soon as he landed, Surrey Police Investigating officer, Sergeant Ben Deacon, said.
But a number of blunders eventually saw the criminals captured by police, with the four men later receiving a combined total of 17 years in prison for their callous crimes.
