Two jewelry shops robbed in Daquq as officials blame patchy camera coverage

KIRKUK — Thieves have taken more than five kilograms of gold from two jewelry shops in Daquq, south of Kirkuk, in raids months apart, and the district commissioner says a shortage of surveillance cameras and the poor quality of the footage that exists have hampered the investigations.

Mustafa Salman said his shop was broken into before dawn in the middle of Ramadan. “After the alarm was triggered, I immediately went to the jewelry store. When I arrived, I found the shop door broken, and more than two kilograms of 21-karat gold had been stolen by two masked men,” he told 964media. He filed a complaint and the investigation continues. “A few days ago, a neighboring store was also robbed, and the perpetrators have not been identified,” he said.

Mohammed Jlou, whose shop was the second target, was told what had happened by a neighbor. “When I arrived, I found that not a single piece of gold was left in the shop,” he said. “More than three kilograms of gold were stolen.” His shop had cameras, but the thieves took the system’s battery rather than the recorder. Security forces collected fingerprints and are working through footage from cameras nearby, he said.

District commissioner Adnan Hussein said security forces were making intensive efforts to identify those responsible and that he had instructed commanders to speed up the investigation into the latest burglary. “We hope they will be arrested soon,” he said. He said forces had solved earlier theft cases and referred suspects to court, and urged residents not to waive their legal rights.

The main obstacle, Hussein said, is that Daquq has few cameras and that footage from many of the systems in place is too poor to identify suspects or establish how the break-ins were carried out. He urged shop owners and residents to install better systems.

Jewelry shops have been targeted elsewhere. In Basra this month, two thieves cut through the roof of a shop in Abu al-Khasib, emptied the safe and left the same way undetected.