Two recent jewellery-store crimes in Nova Scotia and Quebec show how differently thieves can target the same kind of business—from a quiet distraction inside a Yarmouth, N.S., shop to a vehicle crashing through a Montreal, Que., storefront.

Yarmouth, N.S.

Two men walked into a Yarmouth jewellery business earlier this month and allegedly made off with tens of thousands of dollars in merchandise after distracting a staff member.

Police say the two men worked together to distract an employee before stealing the jewellery.

The theft happened on August 3 at about 4:55 p.m. at a business on Main Street, according to Yarmouth Town RCMP.

Investigators are now looking for the public’s help in identifying the pair.

Montreal, Que.

The case follows an aggressive attempt at a jewellery store in Montreal last month. In the early hours of July 6, a jewellery store in Montreal’s Ahuntsic-Cartierville neighbourhood was targeted in an attempted smash-and-grab.

According to CTV News, Police received multiple 911 calls around 1:45 a.m. about a break-in at a store on Fleury Street near Curotte Avenue.

Montreal police said that the suspects allegedly crashed an SUV into the storefront and attempted to steal jewellery from inside. They didn’t get far.

The SUV was left inside the store as the suspects fled in another vehicle, police said, per the CTV News report.

Officers later stopped a vehicle matching a description provided by witnesses and arrested four males, aged 18, 17, 16, and 13.

The suspects were taken to a detention centre, where investigators were to question them about their alleged involvement, Montreal police spokesperson Manuel Couture told CTV News.

The two cases offer two strikingly different examples of how jewellery stores can become targets—one relying on distraction and stealth, the other on brute force.