Three Colombian jewel thieves have admitted their part in two carjacking-style robberies of international gem dealers in Auckland this year.
Javier Espinosa Agreda, 27, Cesar Orlando Romero, 43, and Juan Leal Casillas, 27, pleaded guilty to two counts of aggravated robbery when they appeared in Auckland District Court on Monday, the Auckland Now website reported.
The admission does away with the need for a long and complex trial involving 60 witnesses and Spanish translators.
The trio were part of a group that stole $770,000 worth of jewels from two jewellery agents.
John Wertheim, a Sydney-based jewellery dealer, was robbed of $110,000 worth of jewels as he sat in his car on May 2. One person smashed the driver's window and reached for his car keys while another smashed the passenger window and grabbed a bag of jewels.
Two weeks later, two Hong Kong-based jewellery dealers were robbed of $660,000 worth of jewels in a similar attack.
Two women were stopped at Auckland Airport trying to take a large amount of jewellery onto a flight to Los Angeles two days after the second robbery.
The men will be kept in custody until their sentencing in February. A fourth man has been remanded without plea.
NZN