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New York|Burglars in Disguise. Millions in Jewels Taken. But This Was in Queens.
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/29/nyregion/jewel-theft-jamaica-hills-queens.html
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Thieves dressed as construction workers stole $3.2 million in jewels and cash from a jewelry store owner’s family home, the police said.
Oct. 29, 2025, 7:01 p.m. ET
The men were dressed as construction workers in high-visibility vests. Few seemed to notice as they quickly walked toward a building and forced their way inside.
Then they were gone, zipping through the city with millions of dollars in stolen jewelry and other treasures.
It didn’t happen in Paris. It happened in suburban Queens.
Just three days before burglars in neon safety vests broke through a second-floor window of the Louvre and absconded with roughly $102 million worth of jewelry, a band of burglars in similar disguises staged a miniature version of the heist in the Jamaica Hills neighborhood.
On the afternoon of Oct. 16, three men, two of whom were disguised as construction workers, forced their way into a residential home, stealing $3.2 million worth of jewelry and cash and an array of personal items before escaping in a blue Hyundai Elantra, the police said.
The heist took place at the family home of Abid Mukhtar, a jeweler with a store in the Jackson Heights section of Queens. The police did not confirm whether the thieves had specifically targeted Mr. Mukhtar and his family, but neighbors said they thought the break-in had been premeditated, noting a series of unusual happenings on the block in the days before the burglary.
As of Wednesday, nearly two weeks after the break-in, the police had not made an arrest. They put out a statement on Tuesday requesting the public’s help in identifying the burglars.
