Ram-raiders have targeted a luxury handbag store in Sydney CBD, with hundreds of thousands worth of goods stolen.
NSW Police have quickly launched an investigation after a group of unidentified suspects drove an SUV into Fendi’s Elizabeth Street store on early Wednesday morning this week.
Luxury handbags were taken before the group left in a white BMW wagon and a grey Audi S3. The total worth of goods stolen is not yet clear. Fendi handbags range between four and figure sums, indicating the total value could be hundreds of thousands of dollars.
This comes amid a rise in retail theft incidences across the state of New South Wales, with the state's Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research confirming retail theft incidents have climbed by 4.3 per cent in the two years to March 2025 in a recent media release. This is primarily due to a 5.1 per cent rise in Greater Sydney, with notable spikes in Sutherland, the Inner West, North Sydney and Hornsby.
Retail theft was the only property offence to rise over the period, with alcohol remaining the most frequently stolen item.
“Liquor continues to top the list of stolen goods,” BOCSAR executive director Jackie Fitzgerald said. “In the year to March 2025, it was involved in nearly one in four shoplifting incidents (24 per cent). Clothing and footwear followed at 14 per cent, with personal items such as cosmetics and perfume making up 8 per cent of cases.”
In the ten years to March 2025, incidences of retail theft was up 2.8 per cent on average. The latest lift in retail theft follows a 10.4 per cent surge in store theft in regional NSW for the two years to December 2024, with store theft up in three of 15 greater Sydney locations and in three of 13 regional locations.
The ten-year average of retail store theft is up 2.7 per cent.
Meanwhile, recent data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) found that personal items such as jewellery and clothing are the most likely to be stolen in Australian households. This comes as the rate of household robberies lifted from 1.8 per cent of all households to an estimated 2.1 per cent of all households (or 217,600) for 2023-2024.
Three quarters of the total estimated robberies (75 per cent) reported the most recent incident to police.
Of those who reported the robbery, 27 per cent of the items stolen include personal items such as jewellery and clothing – or an estimated 58,000 in total – followed by bicycles or sporting equipment (16 per cent or 34,300), tools (15 per cent or 33,200) and money, purse or wallet (14 per cent or 31,200).
When it comes to theft from a motor vehicle, ABS data shows that money, purses or wallets are more likely to be stolen over the last two years, at 38 per cent or 82,900. Personal items such as jewellery and clothing come in second at 35 per cent or 75,600.
However, the rate of stealing from motor vehicles is relatively similar to the prior corresponding period.
Regarding the Fendi store ram-raid, NSW Police noted the SUV used to break the store window had been reported stolen from Waterloo on Tuesday.
Further checks also confirmed the two vehicles driven from the scene were stolen during a break-in at a home in Kingsford.
A crime scene was established in the CBD and examinations were undertaken to determine how many people were involved and how many bags were stolen.
No further information has been shared by police as of writing.
Police are urging anyone who sights the two outstanding vehicles not to approach but to call police immediately.