“Mission Impossible” Thieves Steal 20 Apple Computers

[Omniyoji]

March 04, 2010, 4:42PM

SOUTH BRUNSWICK — They never touched the floor — that would have set off an alarm.

They didn’t appear on store security cameras. They cut a hole in the roof and came in at a spot where the cameras were obscured by advertising banners.

And they left with some $26,000 in laptop computers, departing the same way they came in — down a 3-inch gas pipe that runs from the roof to the ground outside the store.

Police believe that’s how some brazen bandits managed to swipe 20 Apple notebooks early this morning at a Best Buy on Route 1 in South Brunswick without detection.

"High level of sophistication," said Detective James Ryan, a police department spokesman. "They never set off any motion sensors. They never touched the floor. They rappelled in and rappelled out."

Employees discovered the missing laptops, as well as a gaping hole in the ceiling, when they arrived to work around 6:30 this morning.

The thieves left boot prints on the gas pipe, which runs up the side of the building in Monmouth Junction, Ryan said.

On top of the building, they used a saw to cut through several inches of rubber and insulation, then sliced a 3-foot-wide square in the metal roof, he said.

Once inside, the burglars dropped 16 feet to 10-foot-tall racks — avoiding contact with the floor, where motion sensors would have set off an alarm. They snatched the notebooks from the racks, then went back out through the roof.

The effort was daring and unusual, said John Harris, an expert in security who has consulted on thousands of burglaries.

"I would say they were a professional crew," said Harris, who is based in Atlanta, Ga., but does work throughout the nation. "At least I’ve never dealt with anything like this. From time to time, people break in, but not usually through the roof."

It’s a first for South Brunswick police and Detective Ryan, who said he’s seen similar burglaries but never anything that required this much effort. The thieves knew the layout of the store and apparently knew the banners would block the view of security cameras, he said.

"The tools they had to bring, the alarms they had to circumvent — it certainly required a lot of high-level planning," Ryan said.

Police think it may not be an isolated incident, and that the crew — which had to include at least 2 or 3 people — might have hit other locations before. The investigating officer, Detective John Penney, will share his notes with other law enforcement agencies around New Jersey.

The corporate offices of Best Buy declined to comment.

Anyone with information about the incident is asked to call Penney at (732) 329-4646.

Source: http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/201...t_nj_best.html


How bout them apples?

[Colenzo]

well now

[Mizango]

I wouldn't steal a shitty fucking Mac if it was on the sidewalk unattended, these guys are clearly novices.

How bout them apples?

Well done lol.

[Chun Liroy]

NJ, home of world class thieves... that steal from best buy

[Colenzo]

They should try to steal something real next time. How are they going to find 20 people that want to buy some shitty laptops lol.

[Cleverness]

I would have snuck in the back and stole some copies of FF13, would be worth more than some shitty Apples.

[Chun Liroy]

Maybe one member is Macgyver. The next thing you know, 20 microwaves are stolen.

[Conrad]

I'm pretty sure I've been to that Best Buy before, and yeah, their layout is pretty awful.

[willriker]

:O exciting!

Who knows, this could have just been practice. We might find even better things stolen in the future.

[Ksandra]

I bet all the equipment they used to do it cost as much as the computers lol.


(not really, but seriously if there's like 4 of them they only made off with 6k each. Not really worth the insane amount of planning for that)

[skedel neuker]

underpaid best buy employees strike back

[Chun Liroy]

Why does Best buy have pressure alarms on the floors? lol

[Mizango]

Why does Best buy have pressure alarms on the floors? lol

Fattie haet? I mean it cant be a stretch considering their laptops hate niggas.

[Kilhart]

:O exciting!

Who knows, this could have just been practice. We might find even better things stolen in the future.

^ Probably this

[Sepukku]

Why does Best buy have pressure alarms on the floors? lol

Thats what I was thinking! When I clicked the link, I expected to hear they broke into Apple HQ and stole like unreleased new notebooks being tested and stuff, but BEST BUY?

Also, if they have all this time to study the layout of the store, obtain all this gear etc, why wouldn't they just GO OUT AND GET A REAL JOB?! Apparently they work well as a team, are task-oriented, can budget their time effectively, and can create and follow precise directions. If I was an employer I'd snatch them up in a heartbeat. And then Lo-Jack them.

[Jakson]

Yeah, it would be crazy to think that maybe the extensive planning took all of a week, and maybe they didn't do it strictly for the money. 6k (or more each) is nothing to scoff at if the whole endeavor from planning to selling takes 2 weeks.

[Kilhart]

Also, if they have all this time to study the layout of the store, obtain all this gear etc, why wouldn't they just GO OUT AND GET A REAL JOB?! Apparently they work well as a team, are task-oriented, can budget their time effectively, and can create and follow precise directions. If I was an employer I'd snatch them up in a heartbeat. And then Lo-Jack them.

Part of it could be for the thrill. For all we know they could all have steady jobs. Hell, some might even work at Best Buy.

[Kyreth]

NJ, home of world class thieves... that steal from best buy

When I first moved out of my parents, I lived in New Brunswick, NJ. (And I'm from Monmouth County)

I woke up the morning after I moved, and someone had cut the lock out of my driver side car door to try and steal shit.

From a Ford Festiva. That didn't even have a frickin tape player. GG, whoever you were.

[Chocoboy]

:O exciting!

Who knows, this could have just been practice. We might find even better things stolen in the future.

Exactly what I was thinking.

[fren.]

This isn't possible, Clay Buchholz is in Florida right now.