A San Po Kong jewelry store became the latest target of a spate of smash-and-grab robberies when three men got away with HK$600,000 worth of gold ornaments in just one minute - the fourth such case in four months.

The incident happened in broad daylight at the Tin Yan Jewelry Shop on 40 Tseuk Luk Street, 30 minutes after the shop opened at 10am yesterday.

Police described the black-clad trio as in their 30s to 40s and around 175 to 180 centimeters in height.

One of them threatened female store employees with a cleaver, while the other two smashed display cases at least 22 times with sledgehammers.

The trio grabbed at least seven plates of gold ornaments and put them in a red-white-blue nylon bag before fleeing in a black getaway car toward Choi Hung Road.

The incident took just a minute and 10 seconds. During the robbery, two employees hid behind the counter, while a janitor stood at the entrance. None of them were hurt.

Police activated an operation codenamed "Exigent" to comb the area after receiving a report from the 59-year-old shop owner surnamed Chung and examining the CCTV footage. Two one-meter sledgehammers were found at the scene.

CCTV footage showed two men with iron bars standing outside the shop, whom police suspect are related to the case.

Officers are still looking for the black getaway Toyota car and the robbers.

The same jewelry shop was also robbed in July 1990, when three robbers with firearms held a woman hostage.

Nine shots were exchanged between the robbers and three officers during the standoff. One robber died after being shot and one was critically wounded, but the third escaped.

A number of high profile smash and grab robberies have struck jewelry and goldsmith stores across the SAR in recent months.

On August 25, two men stole four plates of gold ornaments worth HK$1 million at Ki Fook Jewellery & Gold store in Fanling.

Two men on July 22 also stole three plates of gold ornaments worth HK$1 million at San Hong Street jewelry shop in Sheung Shui.

On June 16, four men smashed a display and stole HK$1.1 million of gold ornaments at T Town mall jewelry shop in Tin Shui Wai.

Hammer gang strikes in fourth smash and grab