Camden New Journal - By HANNAH KUCHLER Published: 3 April 2008
High-class optician’s is raided
BURGLARS have stolen designer sunglasses worth £15,000 from an optician’s shop.
Icon Opticians, based in Hampstead, whose clients have included popstar Liam Gallagher and the late film director Anthony Minghella, was raided in the early hours of Sunday.
The thieves ransacked the South End Road shop causing thousands of pounds worth of damage.
They are thought to have used an airgun to try to break windows and DIY tools to cut open the shutters. Racks of glasses were torn off the walls.
Daniel Shewar, one of Icon’s owners, said: “There are gangs that do opticians like the gangs that steal handbags. We were targeted because we are a high-class operation.”
Co-owner Amjad Butratueno added: “These frames are worth £250 each, but they’ll sell them on for £10. Some of the glasses are no good to them at all because we’ve got the arms, so they can’t even be used.”
Neighbours called the police when they saw the damage on Sunday morning.
A police spokesman said: “There was no CCTV footage showing the break-in but we have serial numbers for the 128 pairs of glasses stolen and we have conducted door-to-door enquiries in our search for witnesses.”