It is no secret that Apple devices are in high demand; and due to their not-so cheap price tags, a slew of heists have occurred around the world since the launch of the anticipated iPhone 5.
A few of the more notable thefts come from Murfreesboro, Tenn., London, United Kingdom, and Osaka, Japan. In Tuesday’s Murfreesboro (what a name, eh?) case, which police dubbed “the most systematic, brazen crimes they’ve seen in years,” according to the local NewsChannel5, eight thieves allegedly swiped over $100,000 in stolen iPhone 5s and iPads from a Best Buy. Surveillance video even shows the group, with each crook wearing hooded sweatshirts and dark ski masks, plowing down the store’s loading garage door with a hot car.
Another incident involves 252 pilfered iPhone 5s in London. According to the U.K.’s Mirror News, the smartphones were shoplifted just hours before launch time at an O2 store in Wimbledon. Cops are looking for the Tandem Centre store’s assistant, 23-year-old Usman Sethi, in connection to the crime. The new iPhones disappeared along with some cash around 1:30 a.m. from the store’s safe.
In Osaka, law enforcement said 191 iPhone 5s went missing from three different stores between 2:30 and 4:30 a.m. The Wall Street Journal noted surveillance video at one of those stores, Softbank Corp, show three male culprits stealing the Apple devices from a locked backroom within a four minute span. It is unclear at this time if the “unusual string” of robberies are connected.
[Source: 9to5Mac]