Burglars Steal IPhones Worth $500,000 In Popular Apple Store

Theives breaks into a neighboring store called Seattle Coffee Gear Apple store and steals an entire wall of iPhones after it had  closed the night of April 2.

According to the police, they had sneaked in after cutting  a hole through a bathroom wall of a neighboring establishment.

The police added that they made off with approximately $500,000 worth of inventory.

The National Retail Federation has said organized retail crime is on the rise, growing by more than 26% in 2021.

They got away with more than $500,000 worth of Apple equipment — including around 436 iPhones, and also Apple Watches and other items, police in Lynnwood, Washington, said.

“Our front door was locked,” Eric Marks, Seattle Coffee Gear’s regional manager, told the affiliate. “They pried our front door open.”

Marks told the station the burglars had cut a 24-inch-by-18-inch hole in the wall to access the back room of the Apple store. “I had no clue we were so close or adjacent to them,” he told the station.

Apple didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment . Calls to the Lynnwood Apple Store and Seattle Coffee Gear were unanswered. Brookfield Properties, which owns the mall where the incident occurred, did not respond to a request for comment from Insider, but told KOMO that the apparent burglary was an “isolated incident.”

On Friday, Lynnwood police told explained  that no arrests had been made and no fingerprints had been found. Police told KOMO that the operation appeared to be well-organized and that the alleged robbers wore masks.

The apparent burglary comes as retailers like Rite Aid, Walmart, and Home Depot have started putting some items under lock and key to prevent shoplifting. The National Retail Federation has said that organized retail crime is on the rise, growing by more than 26% in 2021.