Montreal jewelry store robbery ring broken up after a year of havoc

They have been making headlines in Quebec, smash-and-grab robberies targeting jewelry stores. Montreal police say they have broken up the ring responsible, making a total of 40 arrests. More than half of them are teenagers. Arresting the young people, it's not easy, but it's the first step. One of the kids who said, I have to get back to class, we have to do the robbery, because I have an exam afternoon. So it's sad, you know, they don't think about the consequences of their doing. That's high school age. And they're developing, and they're vulnerable, and they're gullible. Well, Montreal police believe the teens were recruited to commit the crimes over social media. They would go to jewelry stores in groups of three or more with hammers and sometimes pepper spray to keep staff at a distance. Once they do the robbery, what they do is they bring the gold or what they stole to a draw point. And from there, there's a team who gets the gold and then brings it to the sponsor of that robbery. So far this year, Montreal has seen 34 cases of smashing grab crimes. Montreal police have recovered almost $4 million in jewelry, cash and other seized items. Montreal police are now working with the parents of those arrested, youth services and community organizations to help these teenagers and give them a second chance. They're not criminals. They're doing a criminal act, but they're not criminal yet. So we have to work with them, give them a plan B, try to understand. And, you know, their brain is not as an adult, so we have to work on that plan B. Denberg-Reed says that can include things like mentorship programs, extracurricular activities, or sports. Sometimes they say you live and you learn, and you got lucky because you're young. But if you were an adult, you'd be charged differently. So right now, let's take the steps to never repeat that, and let's take the steps to be better. Montreal police are hopeful that the crime numbers will go down with the arrests that have been made. Now their main focus is making sure that the teenagers get the help they need so they can go down a different path in life that doesn't involve crime.