The early morning burglary of a Bay Area store that sells drones has some asking if something bigger is going on.
Police say someone broke in to the Drones Plus store at about 1 a.m. Monday morning and stole several drones and other products worth $5,000 from the shop in the 2000-block of Duane Avenue in Santa Clara.
Drones Plus is one of the biggest sellers of unmanned aircraft in the nation. Surveillance video provided by the store appears to show two men breaking in through a front window and then taking off with several drones.
Santa Clara store manager Armin Monajemi says drones are a hot-ticket item. Monday's is at least the third burglary of a Drones Plus store since the end of August.
“They know they have a good value on the market and they sell very easily,” Monajemi said.
The chain has released surveillance video of a smash-and-grab burglary attempt that happened at another Drone Plus store in Vancouver on Sunday. Another similar burglary took place at the company’s Studio City store in late August. Surveillance cameras at that store caught seven suspects on tape busting into the store and stealing $15,000 worth of drones. Another store in Las Vegas was also targeted.
Police said they’re trying to determine if the burglaries are connected.
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While police look into it, Monajemi said he plans to fortify his inventory cage.
“As we move forward,” he said, “I’m sure they will become more targeted.”
