“It happened eight minutes after the street lights went out on the night of April 10 to 11 last,” says the husband of the couple, who has been happily married for more than fifty years, but prefers not to be named in the newspaper with the sad incident. want to. “We can deduce the time from neighbors’ camera images when the dog is also barking. You can also see in the images how the duo quickly walks away.”
“We were in the living room at the front of our house on the ground floor, watching television, the crime series Missing on Play 5. When we went to sleep, we noticed that all our jewelry had been stolen. Our bedroom is at the back of the house, about fifteen meters from the living room, but the connecting doors were closed.”
“Drilled a hole”
“We didn’t notice the burglary at all, as we were watching TV. So they had drilled a hole in the window frame with a (hand) drill to push up the handle of the lock inside. That’s how they got in. They searched the rooms at the back.”
The thieves drilled a hole in the window frame and left behind a ladder. — © jhw
“They are gone with all the jewelry,” says the man’s wife with a sigh. “It hurts my heart. This concerns approximately 30,000 euros worth of gold jewelry. We’re really not feeling well about it. Now I have no more jewelry. Really very sad. That they leave people alone.”
“Alarm wouldn’t help”
“The locks on the windows are now all extra secured,” the man continues. “However, an alarm would not have helped. After all, we were inside ourselves. It’s a shame that they waited to strike when the public lights outside were off. It has been extinguished at night since the end of 2022 as an energy saving measure. But unfortunately the thieves saw this as a good opportunity to strike.”
“We of course called the police, who came to determine the burglary. During their escape, the thieves also left a ladder against our facade. We don’t know where they got it from, but our neighbors certainly didn’t have a missing ladder. They were also filmed in the area by a surveillance camera, on which you can see that the dog of the house is barking at them from behind a fence.” (Read more below the photo)
The pair suspected of the burglary were also filmed nearby. It was pitch dark, because the street lights were turned off. — © jhw/if
“Such a burglary is a very unpleasant experience. It has come a long way if we can no longer watch TV with peace of mind.”
“Number of home burglaries is decreasing”
“I am not immediately aware of a plague of burglaries in our municipality at the moment,” says Mayor Walter Vansteenkiste (LB Wemmel). “The number of burglaries on an annual basis is decreasing slightly in Wemmel. Sometimes there is a wave of a few burglaries, but overall there are fewer burglaries in homes.” (Read more below the photo)
In Wemmel, between 75 and 100 homes have now been given the label ‘Burglary-proof home’ — © jhw
“More and more residents of Wemmel are securing their homes, which means thieves are targeting more vehicles. The municipality introduced a subsidy regulation for making homes burglar-proof in 2019, in which a theft prevention advisor provides tips on how to make your home burglar-proof. The municipality provides a subsidy of a maximum of 750 euros per home that is made burglar-proof.”
“It concerns technical interventions such as closing windows and doors with solid locks. Electrical (alarm) systems are not subsidized. After making the home burglar-proof, residents also receive official recognition and a label. We are now gradually moving towards the hundred homes that received the ‘Burglary-proof home’ logo in Wemmel.”
Tags: Thieves euros worth jewelry couple watches crime series Wemmel
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