Heavy Lode

Thieves strike gold

It was a tempting target, and it attracted some sophisticated thieves. Around midnight, they broke into Miami's Trend-line Jewelry, a large wholesaler of precious metals that also dealt in foreign markets. They knew enough about electronics to thwart a complex alarm system, one that used sonar equipment and electric eyes. They knocked out a second series of alarms that guarded four safes, and then managed to open one and to cut into two others with acetylene torches.

Then came the hard labor, as the thieves carried out 800 lbs. of gold and 3,000 lbs. of silver. They took thousands of 14-karat bracelets and ring mountings and swept up packages of jewelry that were wrapped and ready to be sent to customers. Upstairs, they found silver and gold scrap stored in 50 5-gal. cans. Police believe the thieves were in the building for at least three or four hours and eventually escaped, obviously, by truck. Richard Andrews, the insurance investigator on the case, estimates that the gold and silver could be worth as much as $7 million on the retail market. If so, that would make the Miami robbery the biggest theft of precious metals in the nation's history.

"It was a monster hit," says Andrews.

"They got the mother lode in this one." The heist ranks with the Lufthansa robbery in 1978 at New York City's Kennedy Airport, in which thieves stole $5.8 million worth of currency and jewelry being handled by the airline. By contrast, the famed 1950 Brinks robbery in Boston netted about $2.8 million.

Police suspect that one or more of Trendline's employees may have been involved. Someone seems to have known exactly what was going on at the firm. There was an unusual stockpile of valuables at Trendline because a European buyer who had planned to look over some merchandise had been delayed. The thieves also took advantage of the fact that Owner Al Weinberg was on a business trip to South America and had closed Trendline on Friday night instead of Saturday. He did not discover the theft until his return at least 12 hours after the crime. Looking for leads, police questioned all 20 Trendline employees but got no useful information.

The gigantic haul was the second major loss Weinberg had experienced in just three days. On March 6 he set out to send to Canada three aluminum containers, each 6 ft. by 6 ft., that were filled with scraps of gold and silver. Two of the containers made it onto the plane. The third, filled with gold, did not, and police were still looking for leads in that case. At least Weinberg could take solace from the fact that the loss, estimated at $790,000, was fully covered with Lloyd's of London. Last week's far bigger haul was insured for only $1.6 million.

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