Edmonton police believe a small, but aggressive Surrey, B.C.-based gang is behind a rash of violent jewelry store robberies, and fear the city may not have seen the last of Lower Mainland gangsters.
The South Slope gang are “extending their crime spree to Alberta,” Robbery section Det. Ron Gamble said yesterday.
Two men walked into RK Jewelers at 34 Avenue and 92 Street and hit a female clerk on the head with a handgun on the afternoon of Sept. 7.
They dragged her to the back of the store and tied her up and emptied several display cases before fleeing out the back door and into awaiting vehicles, police said.
There have been five such robberies in Edmonton since January, with more in Calgary and parts of rural Alberta.
“They all show similarities,” Gamble said. “The female clerk was assaulted right away and that’s pretty disturbing. Most people demand things and if you co-operate you’ll come away unscathed. This one was very violent.”
Police believe the individuals are bringing the drug trade into Alberta.
Aware he was wanted on a Canada-wide warrant in connection with the Mill Woods robbery, 20-year-old Gagandeep Singh Rakhra recently turned himself in to Burnaby police.
He has refused to identify his alleged companion.
Edmonton police are calling for the public’s assistance in locating the second suspect, believed to be armed and dangerous.
He is described as an Indo-Canadian male between 18 and 20 years old, approximately five-foot-six, 140 pounds., with brown hair and eyes, wearing an Armani X-change jacket.
