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The man and woman were seen running through the parking lot of the Route 17 south strip mall where the store is located — possibly past the two robbers as they entered Aydin Coin & Jewelry yesterday morning, Gurney said.
Aydin Coin & Jewelry (Google Map)
The woman was described as carrying a black purse and wearing a dark jacket and blue jeans, the chief said.
The man was wearing a dark coat, khaki pants and a wool hat, he said.
The additional two may have served as lookouts as the pair — wearing goggles and respiratory masks — robbed the store, a law enforcement source said last night. Then again, Gurney said today, they might have been innocent bystanders scared off by the robbers.
A police dog tracked the scent of the robbers down the highway less than a quarter-mile, at which point the crew members likely got into a getaway car, Gurney said earlier in the day.
One of the robbers who entered the store around 11:20 a.m. — described as larger and heavyset — had on a dark heavy jacket, a dark shirt and a red striped tie, the chief told CLIFFVIEW PILOT.
The other wore a hazardous materials-type suit, akin to those on the former TV show “Breaking Bad.” He may have been Asian, police said.
The robbers at first claimed to be FBI agents investigating a meth lab, Gurney said.
The larger man flashed what looked like a police ID and pointed a dark handgun at the employees, who were “placed in a rear room while the [robbers] entered the safe and display cases and stole an unknown amount of jewelry,” the chief said.
All three were zip-tied and held at gunpoint by the larger man in a back room while the other bandit ransacked the store, he said.
The Bergen County Sherriff’s Office Bureau of Criminal Investigation collected evidence at the business, located in a strip mall known as Lincoln Plaza.
Store surveillance video was being examined, Gurney said.
Anyone with information about the robbery is asked to call Ramsey police: (201) 327-2400
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