It was "Mission Impossible" all over again as thieves made off with $26,000 in Macbooks from a New Jersey Best Buy.
This was no smash-and-grab, like the one that hit a Marlton, N.J., Apple store back in September. Instead of guns and bravado, these thieves relied on stunts pulled straight from the silver screen.
South Brunswick police told the Newark Star-Ledger that the burglars climbed up a pipe on the side of the Best Buy building -- as indicated by boot prints. Once on the roof, they sawed through rubber and insulation to cut out a hole, measuring three square feet, through the building's metal roof. Then, they dropped down onto the store's metal racks, avoiding the floor so as not to set off any motion detectors, and scooped up 20 laptops before rappelling back through the roof.
By dropping down in a place that was obscured by advertising banners, the thieves were also never seen by Best Buy's security cameras.
"High level of sophistication," said Detective James Ryan, a police department spokesman. "They never set off any motion sensors. They never touched the floor. They rappelled in and rappelled out."
Police think the same crew of at least two or three people might have hit other locations in the past, but there's no indication that detectives have any good leads.
Last December, five people broke into an Apple Store in New Jersey after hours and stole at least $31,700 of laptops, iPhones and iPod Touches. A security guard was patrolling, but the robbers held him off by signaling that one of the culprits had a handgun.
I'm guessing that Apple laptops make particularly inviting targets because of their high value. They're also recognizable and come in few varieties, which could make them easier to sell off for cash. Probably a good thing for users to keep in mind, too, if they're thinking about leaving a Macbook unattended.
