BURGLARS broke into a Saltash jewellers shop at the weekend causing £2,000 worth of damage to the building and its displays, and stealing around £35,000 of jewellery.
Saphira Jewellers, in The Courtyard, off Fore Street, was burgled at 6pm on Sunday by thieves who made their entry through the ceiling.
The owner of the shop said that their haul included diamond rings, watches and a gold chain.
He explained: 'The thieves must literally only have been in here for around one minute. When they jumped through the ceiling, and onto the window shelf they took items from the gold window, and made an exit.'
The thieves gained entry to the shop by initially removing tiles from the roof, and then sawing through the roof joists, before breaking through the plasterboard ceiling.
The alarm was activated as soon as the thieves came through the ceiling.
Security
'I did feel we had quite adequate security in the shop, but we are now going to be heightening the measures we take to protect the building,' added Jason, the owner.
'You do expect things like this to happen, but I thought that the security would protect us.'
All stock stolen has been re-ordered and will arrive in the next few weeks.
Anyone with any information should contact the police on 08705 777 444 or Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.