Burglars steal $1.2 million in jewelry from South Carolina store after slew of burglaries
Spartanburg SC March 15 2023
A little over a million dollars in inventory was stolen from a family jewelry store in about five minutes.
Spartanburg Police are still investigating after a break-in at Queens Jewelers at WestGate Mall, the last in a string of burglaries there.
Store owners say Monday, March 6, a group of four people broke open the store’s gate, stealing Cartier and Rolex watches, 35 diamond necklaces, more than 50 diamond bracelets, and men’s diamond rings.
Around 8:30 p.m., an hour and a half after closing, Nikki Punjwani and her husband got security alerts through their phones. They watched their camera footage as three people broke into their family-owned jewelry store inside WestGate Mall while another stood guard.
“Well, it was very painful,” Punjwani said. “I was on the call with 911 when I could actually see them getting away with all the stuff.”
Punjwani and her family have owned Queens Jewelers at WestGate Mall for more than a decade, working more than 60 hours a week to keep it going. In less than 10 minutes, she said $1.2 million in diamond jewelry and watches were stolen. That’s more than 10 years of work gone, she said.
“It is something that I can never forget ever,” she said. “Ever. Ever. I mean it haunts me every single day, every single hour.”
According to the police, this is not the first time this has happened. They said less than a month into the year, there have already been five break-ins and burglaries at WestGate Mall in Spartanburg, and 10 since 2020.
“Had they circulated a memo or let us know,” Punjwani said, “we would’ve actually known what was going on here. But we had no clue that this was going on.”
But instead, Punjwani said she hasn’t heard anything from the mall, even when she’s brought up multiple security concerns regarding the mall entrances.
“The mall security needs to take this very, very seriously,” she said. “I have gone back and forth with the mall manager and mall security, but they are not even ready to communicate with me.”
We spoke with several other store owners who echoed these concerns, but who did not want to go on camera. We reached out to WestGate, asking several questions including how the thieves got into the mall after hours. A representative said they were only aware of two incidents involving break-ins. In both those instances, they said all the doors were locked, and police were notified.
According to the family, Queens Jewelers’ insurance will only cover $225,000 of the about $1.2 million loss, leaving them hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt.
Heartbroken their hard work was taken in minutes; the family is asking the community for help identifying these burglars and is even willing to offer a reward.
“Somebody out there knows about this,” Punjwani said. “They have to, they have to help us because if they keep doing this to small businesses how can anyone survive?”
If you know anything about this or any other WestGate Mall break-in, please call the police.