Masked thugs wielding bats were forced to leave more than £100,000 in gold and silver behind during a botched jewellery shop heist after the quick-thinking owner set off a smoke bomb.
Saeed Adam, 36, pressed a panic button to activate a 'Fog Bandit' security device when the thieves' pickup truck crashed into Bradford Jewellery in West Yorkshire on Monday morning.
Within seconds, the shop was filled with blinding smoke, forcing the three thieves to turn back and leave a small fortune in jewellery draped around mannequins and in display counters.
Mr Adam had been minding the store with his nephew Abbas Hussain, 20, and assistants Mohammed Hussain, 20, and Adnan Khalid, 26, on behalf of the owner, who is away in Pakistan, at the time of the robbery.
They opened up at 11am and were just dealing with their first customers - two men, two women and a baby from the same family - when they heard a huge bang.
In the footage captured by a witness, one customer escaped the jewellers before a thief with a metal baton stepped over the bumper and into the smashed shopfront.
The crook then came face-to-face with another terrified customer but slipped past him into the smoke-filled shop.
The thieves' pickup truck had smashed twice into a 1ft-tall wall, designed to protect the shop from attacks.
Masked thugs wielding bats were forced to leave more than £100,000 worth of jewellery behind during a botched raid on Bradford Jewellery in West Yorkshire this week (The destroyed shopfront window is pictured)
The robbers smashed a pickup truck into the shopfront window before trying, and failing, to ransack goods from inside (The damage caused in the jewellers is pictured)
Bradford Jewellery is thought to have suffered around £10,000 worth of damage during the ram raid
Mr Adam immediately activated the smoke bomb and everyone inside fled as plumes of smoke billowed out of the shop and alarm sirens wailed.
Zaheer Azam, 40, who is minding the shop for his brother Matloob Hussain, 46, said: 'Saeed pressed the panic button. In less than a second, the shop was filled with smoke from the Fog Bandit.
'The staff and customers went out. The robbers tried to get inside but could not see anything. They were driven back by the smoke and fled.'
The thieves are understood to have caused as much as £10,000 worth of damage to the store.
Stock has now been moved to a safe deposit box while repairs - expected to take two weeks - are carried out.
They include raising the height of the concrete wall from 1ft to 5ft as well as other security improvements to doors and windows.
The shop has traded on the same site for ten years with no previous incidents.
A spokesperson for West Yorkshire police said: 'Officers were called to report of a ram raid at a jewellery shop on Barkerend Road, Bradford.
'Three suspects gained entry to the shop using a vehicle, nothing was stolen.
'A man has been arrested on suspicion of attempted robbery, he remains in custody.'
The suspect has since been bailed pending further enquiries.
The gang of balaclava-clad thieves are seen fleeing the store in shocking footage shared to social media
Three customers who rushed from inside the jeweller during the raid quickly returned to help a woman who had been holding a baby
Damaged chairs and cabinets are pictured in the aftermath of the attack, which marks the latest in a spate of ram raids across the United Kingdom
Bradford Jewellery's stock has since been moved to a safe deposit box while repairs - expected to last two weeks - are carried out
The failed robbery in Yorkshire marks the latest in a concerning spate of ram raids which has seen brazen crooks target shopfronts with weapons and vehicles.
Two weeks ago, three thieves drove a Mercedes SL-Class into Kalidas Jewellers in east London during the early hours of the morning before making off with goods.
Footage showed the car ploughing into the shop four times on April 28 as two accomplices stood on the road trying to smash through the glass themselves.
The trio later fled the scene in the Mercedes, thought to be stolen, with around £10,000 worth of jewellery.
Speaking after the raid, a neighbour admitted such break-ins were becoming 'increasingly common'.
They added: 'Unfortunately, our neighbouring jeweller was broken into.
'Incidents like this appear to be becoming increasingly common among jewellers across the UK. We remain hopeful that the police will be able to provide greater support and preventative measures moving forward. Fortunately, no one was harmed.'
In another incident earlier this year just a few miles away, thieves smashed their way into the luxurious Yves Saint Laurent store on Bond Street, central London, using a black SUV.
Footage taken by a passer-by showed the balaclava-clad thugs clearing the shelves before swiping designer bags worth as much as £30,000 during the dead of night.
One of the thieves was later seen fleeing on a motorbike with the store left in tatters. Shutters were almost totally destroyed and shards of glass lay strewn across the ground.
And that robbery came just days after a gang of motorbike-riding robbers stole thousands of pounds' worth of Rolex watches from a west London store.
Phone footage showed two motorbikes descending on the Bucherer Rolex Boutique at One Hyde Park in late January as another vehicle propped open the door.
Several men were seen armed with what appeared to be crowbars as they rushed into the luxury boutique.
Meanwhile, during the same month, two hammer-wielding thugs broke into family-run jeweller Gregory & Co in Richmond, south-west London.
Footage taken by an onlooker showed the pair filling a bag with valuables before fleeing in front of dozens of residents.
A local later revealed that the very same store suffered a similar heist in 2019, when three robbers rammed a Range Rover through the window.