Unregulated resale markets abroad could be driving a spike in brazen attacks, as ITV News’ Kaf Okpattah reports
A growing threat of “smash-and-grab” raids on jewellers has been fuelled by rising precious metal prices and overseas resale demand, according to exclusive data from an industry group.
Ten incidents of armed robbery in the UK were reported to monitoring initiative Safer Gems within the first three months of this year, which is up from just one reported incident last year.
This resulted in a total loss of £3.2 million worth of goods, and marks a significant increase from the same period in 2025, where £60,000 of losses were reported.
Smash and grabs involve criminals using weapons or cars to ram their way into jewellers and luxury stores before making off with goods.
For jewellers and pawnbrokers, the loss of goods can be a blow, but the impact of the crime goes beyond the value of the items themselves.
In January 2025, Dave Mandry-Jones was working at Brooklands Jewellers when a stolen car repeatedly rammed into the shop front.
“It was quite frightening at the time, because you don’t know how far they’re going to come into the shop. Are they armed, are they not?” he told us.
“So we took safety in the back of the shop and waited for it all to be over.”
Police caught two of those responsible shortly after the incident and were able to recover the £50,000 worth of goods stolen. The pair have since been sentenced to prison.
But Mandry-Jones and his business partner were still hit with costs for fresh security measures, spending £15,000 alone on reinforcing the shop front. He told us that smash and grabs have a devastating impact on victims of the crime.
“They just ruin people’s lives. We had a whole year of trauma and stress dealing with it, for it to take 40 seconds for them to get what they wanted,” Dave added.
Smash and grabs have been reported up and down the country, with most taking place in London. In the first two months of 2026, three London jewellers were struck in the space of a few weeks.
In February, seven men were sentenced for a string of seven smash-and-grab robberies that took place in the city in 2025.
“We are seeing an increase in the theft of jewellery such as precious metals and diamonds,” Safer Gems told ITV News.
“Due to the high prices, gold and silver have become attractive commodities, which are easier to melt down, to hide its identification and sell on.”
Before the impact of Iran war set in, the price of gold in the UK reached a five-year high of more than £4,000 per ounce on Monday 2 March.
High demand has been reported in Russia, the Middle East and China for prestige watches – something stolen goods investigator Christopher Marinello from Art Recovery International said he has come across in his work.
Marinello said he has seen stolen goods end up on different continents in a matter of hours, with the UAE often appearing in his inquiries.
“The problem is, there’s a lot of money in Dubai and people buy things quickly without asking any questions. There’s not a lot of due diligence being done,” he said.
For stolen watches remaining in the UK, Safer Gems has warned that prestige models are being worn as status symbols following theft by gang members.
When “stolen to order”, gangs will “raffle out” watches to gang members to wear, the initiative told ITV News.
When it comes to preventing smash-and-grab criminals from making off with goods in the first place, Safer Gems is urging jewellers to install fog machines.
The technology allows shops to be filled in seconds with an opaque fog which leaves no residue, in an attempt to push out thieves attempting to steal goods.
Neil Chrismas, a representative from security firm Fog Bandit, said the demand for the technology has been growing.
“We have rising prices for gold and silver, so among pawnbrokers and the jewellery sector particularly, there is a lot of anxiety around the levels of assets in jewellery shops and warehouses as smash and grabs are becoming more prevalent,” he said.
The use of security fog is also being recommended by police, as they continue to grapple with the crime.
Following the sentencing of a criminal gang in February, Detective Chief Inspector Scott Mather, from the Metropolitan Police’s Flying Squad, said: “We realise these attacks on luxury stores have had a significant impact on business owners and the communities around them.
“Our detectives worked quickly, establishing common patterns between the attacks to link them to one criminal network. Forensic analysis and fast-paced CCTV enquiries were then able to identify the suspects.
“This is a clear message to anyone who thinks they can carry out smash-and-grab raids in London – we will identify you, we will track you down and we will bring you to justice.”
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