The hair weave thieves struck again early Friday, this time stealing strands worth more than $100,000 from a Clayton County beauty store.
The Beauty Master store, on Mt. Zion Road in Morrow, is the latest shop targeted by robbers, who break into the stores and grab dozens of packages of hair, worth an average of $200 a pack.
Nearly 500 packages of hair was stolen around 5 a.m. Friday, and the thieves targeted two specific brands: Malaysian and Indian Remy, Lucien Poko, the store's general manager, told the AJC. Poko runs all seven Beauty Master stores in the Atlanta area, and he said five have now been robbed.
Poko said he hopes video surveillance footage will help police bust the crime ring.
"By looking at the video footage, it's the same people," Poko told the AJC. "Our stores have been hit the most."
Four suspects made two trips inside the store early Friday, stealing more than $100,000 worth of hair, Poko said. The security alarm alerted Morrow police, who arrived at the scene within minutes, he said. But by then, the thieves and the hair were gone.
The thieves appear to have been three men and a woman, Poko said.
Friday's theft is the latest of several similar crimes in the Atlanta area. Late last month, thieves drove an SUV into a West End store before stealing hair.
“When I walked in, I saw this empty wall, and everything else was fine,” said Won Jung, a cashier at Angie’s Beauty Supply and Salon, previously told the AJC.
Beauty Master stores on Camp Creek Parkway and Headland Drive, near Greenbriar Parkway, were hit in August and June. Poko said security cameras and gates have not deterred the criminals from stealing the hair, possibly to sell elsewhere for a cheap price.
"We're looking at putting officers on duty at night," Poko said.
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