A jewelry store in Chula Vista is searching for the female thieves who made off with jewelry valued at tens of thousands of dollars.

“It’s really a shocking experience. You go through your day and your routine,” says Anthony Knight, who has owned Gold and Diamond Buyers in Chula Vista for 11 years. This is the first time, according to him, that thieves managed to escape with $30,000 worth of high-end jewelry.

Knight explains that they were in the middle of inventory earlier this month when two women entered the store asking to try on some pieces. Their faces have been blurred because the police have not yet identified them as suspects.

Knight recalls, “They were taking jewelry without us noticing. If I got distracted, one of them would place something in her lap. They were passing items between each other, sitting on them, and then putting them in their purse.”

However, Knight says they didn’t realize anything had happened until days later, when they noticed some pieces were missing. When they reviewed the surveillance footage, they noticed something strange: chunks of footage were missing from the WiFi-connected cameras.

Knight comments, “It’s like they’re on camera for a minute and a half, and then they disappear.”

Knight believes the women may have used a device that disabled the WiFi, which in turn interrupted the cameras. Fortunately, Knight says they had a backup camera connected to a hard line, and that’s when they discovered the women in the act, according to a media outlet on its website.

He adds, “They’re professionals, they’re good. They got us.”