San Francisco Chinatown Luk Fook Jewellery hit with smash-and-grab robberies two years in a row

(SAN FRANCISCO) Luk Fook Jewellery, a San Francisco Chinatown high-end jewelry store, was hit with daytime smash-and-grab robberies two years in a row. The latest incident occurred on June 30 at 5 PM at its Washington Street shop where the streets were crowded with people shopping and walking out after work.

Technically the latest incident would be categorized as burglary or theft by police since two suspects in the case smashed the window of the Luk Fook Jewellery, grabbed some jewelry merchandise displayed at the window and fled from the scene.

Last year's similar crime which hit Luk Fook Jewellery occurred at 11 AM on May 1, 2021, the first day of the May Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage Month. On that day, San Francisco Police Chief William Scott was invited to walk through Chinatown to celebrate the Asian American Heritage Month.

While Scott was at the Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association, which is only one block away from the Luk Fook Jewellery, the smash-and-grab robbery took place by three suspects.

Scott, Assistant Chief David Lazar, Commander Daryl Fong and Central Police Station Captain Julian Ng were all around that area and later went to check on the crime scene.

Scott told Wind Newspaper last year outside the Luk Fong Jewellery that he was very surprised to see the window was smashed and the jewelry items were stolen from the broken window, because many of the jewelry stores had the unbreakable security glass panels in place.

An eyewitness in the June 30 incident, who was a senior and did not want to provide his name for the record, told Wind Newspaper that he was shopping across the street from Luk Fook Jewellery. In his description, two suspects had light skin color and wore masks over their faces with hoodies covering their heads.

"One suspect first held the door of the jewelry store to keep the employees from coming out, while the other suspect broke the window with a metal tool. The second suspect tried many times to get the jewelry items out from the hole at the window," said the eyewitness. "After they grabbed some pieces of the jewelry, those two guys crossed the street and ran away through Ross Alley."

Sources told Wind Newspaper that police officers had arrested the suspects in the 2021 case when the suspects came back to Chinatown at a later time. They were recognized by the officers and some witnesses. Eventually the suspects were not charged with the crime and released. The suspects in the 2021 case are still at large at this time.

David Lazar, who was recently promoted to Assistant Chief on July 1, responded to our inquiry and admitted that the suspects were once arrested and released.

"I understand the case was dismissed because of lack of interpretation services available," said Lazar. "The case that was dismissed was refiled."

When asked if two incidents were related, Lazar responded, "This is a separate case. This case is being investigated. Video retrieval officers were out there. Investigation continues."

For prevention, Lazar suggested that the merchants could install thick plexiglass or 3M material to prevent it from breaking.

Luk Fook is one of the largest jewellery chain stores in Asia. Wai Sheung Wong founded Luk Fook in Hong Kong in 1991. Pauline Yeung, who won the Miss Hong Kong Pageant in 1987, was one of the co-founders and shareholders of Luk Fook.

Luk Fook expanded its market to China and opened its first retail shop in Guangdong Province in 1994. It became public and was listed on the main board of the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong Limited in 1997.

According to the online information, currently Luk Fook Jewellery has a total of over 2600 shops in Hong Kong, China, Singapore, United States, Canada and all over the world.

The first Luk Fook Jewellery store in the United States opened on Grant Avenue in San Francisco Chinatown in 2006. New York's Luk Fook opened in 2016. The second Luk Fook in San Francisco Chinatown opened in 2017 on Washington Street up to the present.