Items worth up to half a million pounds were seized from a jewellery shop by police investigating burglaries.
Officers believe the valuables were taken in a spate of burglaries across the south east, including in Brighton, Hove, Bognor, Chichester, Horsham, Burgess Hill, Haywards Heath, Crawley, Littlehampton, Arundel, Worthing and Shoreham.
Operation Emerald officers from Sussex Police raided Ebony’s Jewellers in Chichester and confiscated more than 2,000 items.
The items have now been photographed and posted online for victims to identify so officers can try to link the valuables to offenders.
Among the items pictured are a Ming-style vase, a silver trophy, a gold carriage clock, an ivory-style sword, a pearl necklace, cameo brooches and jewelled rings.
Simon Tilley, the owner of the shop in South Street, said: “About 18 police came into the shop and started taking stuff.
“I didn’t know what to say.
“I’ve hardly got any stuff left now but I’m staying open.”
Stock seized
He told The Argus that as far as he was concerned none of what he had was stolen, and he had invoices for the purchases.
A Sussex Police statement confirmed: “Sussex Police executed a search warrant at Ebony’s Jewellers looking for suspected stolen property.
“Most of the stock of the shop was seized and is being examined in order to establish where it has come from.
“No arrests have been made at this stage.”
Sergeant Jason Vickers said: “We like to reunite owners with their property wherever possible and are inviting anyone who has been burgled in Central and West Sussex, East Hampshire or South West Surrey in the past 12 months to log on to have a look.”
If you think that any of the items belong to you, you should call 101, quoting Operation Emerald or Serial 0439 of 8/4, or visit property.sussex-police.co.uk/recovered-items/emerald.
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