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Gang smashes way into Malvern East jewellery store with crowbars, hammers

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A jewellery store owner hid in terror and shoppers fled as four masked men armed with crowbars and a hammer stormed his shop in a brazen daylight robbery in Melbourne's south-east.

Thieves smashed through the glass window of the Jafari Jewellers store on Burke Road in Malvern East just before midday on Thursday. 

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Gang caught on CCTV smashing into jewellery store

Police are hunting for hooded men who ransacked a jewellery story in Malvern East with crowbars and hammers.

It is the second jewellery store heist in Melbourne this week.

Nearby traders barricaded themselves inside their stores during the violent raid. 

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Footage of the burglary shows a frightened woman running in the opposite direction, as four men approach the jewellers.

Two men are dressed all in black, one dressed in a grey tracksuit and another in a white jumper with tan trousers. All had masks on their faces.

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The CCTV video, aired on Ten News, shows two men smashing the front door open with a crowbar and a hammer.

The store's owner Mohamed Jafari said he ran to the back of the store, while the gang smashed open cabinets and helped themselves to a large amount of jewellery. 

"I just was working and four people come down and smash all the glass," he told Fairfax Media.

"All faces covered and very tall.

"They had a big hammer and a steel bar, they just grabbed jewellery from all of the cabinets and smashed everything inside."

The quick-thinking jeweller of 30 years said he then chased the thieves down the street, where he saw their getaway vehicle, and snapped a photo of them leaving.

"I was running up to them, and the car was just there waiting and they just sit in the car and drive off," he said.

"It's a new BMW, silver colour."

Mr Jafari said the thieves made off with gold rings, necklaces and diamonds. 

He fears he may have lost tens of thousands of dollars.

"They took gold, diamonds, rings, just everything," he said.

"They should just put them in prison, because it's devastating."

Detective Sergeant Peter Lockman said the masked and gloved offenders were in the store for more than a minute, smashing glass cabinets and cases.

"These men come armed with a purpose so it's extremely lucky no one has been hurt," Detective Sergeant Lockman said.

"It was very brazen [being] this time of day where there is a street full of pedestrian traffic going about their business." 

Detective Sergeant Lockman said it was unclear if the attack was linked to a spate of violent jewellery store robberies across Melbourne, however police hold concerns about the surge in this particular type of crime.

"It's very similar offending to other incidents we are investigating," he said.

"We hold concerns because they are very brazen attacks."

Owner of Central Park Cakes, Harry Hrambanis, spoke of his horror at seeing the gang of balaclava-clad men fleeing down the street clutching trays of stolen jewellery. 

Items of jewellery spilled out of the trays onto the footpath as the men fled, he said.  

"We were so terrified we locked ourselves inside our store," Mr Hrambanis said.

Mr Hrambanis has owned the cake store, two doors down from the jewellery store, for more than 35 years.

He said he heard glass smashing and people screaming before the men stormed in and ransacked the store.   

"I've never seen anything like this happen, it was incredibly scary and daunting," he said.

"We heard the glass smashing and people were yelling and then a few minutes later we see four blokes running past and getting into a getaway car.

"It's a busy shopping strip, but it has always been safe."

Mr Hrambanis said he consoled Mr Jafari in aftermath of the attack.

"I ran down to see if he was OK and he was OK, but he was pretty shaken-up."

The shopping strip was closed off for more than an hour while police examined the scene.

It is still being determined what was stolen during the incident.

No one was injured, police said.

Mr Jafari said the store was fitted with security cameras and footage of the incident had been handed over to police.  

It is the second daring daylight jewellery store robbery in three days, after thieves smashed the front cabinets of JK Collections Jewellers at Waverley Gardens Shopping Centre in Mulgrave on Tuesday.

The thieves threatened the store owner and customers with an axe before making off with jewellery and watches.

It echoed a similar daylight robbery in March, when four thieves in balaclavas stormed a Michael Hill store at the Plenty Valley Westfield shopping centre in South Morang.

About a dozen jewellery stores have been targeted by thieves since October.

Holloway Diamonds outlets in Brighton and Canterbury have been robbed three times this year.

Toorak's IMP Jewellery has also been targeted twice. Thieves also smashed their way through jewellery stores in South Yarra and Elsternwick.

Anyone with any information is urged to call Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.

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