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F RIDAY , J UNE 25, 2010
52 Pages
Page A34
YOUR SOURCE FOR LOCAL NEWS, SPORTS, WEATHER AND ENTERTAINMENT abbotsfordtimes.com
Homemade bombs found in Abby home Would be considered IEDs in Afghanistan RAFE ARNOTT RArnott@abbotsfordtimes.com
A
choking voice he said, ‘Dad . . . sorry Dad . . . you and Mum have to come home now, we had a robbery at the store,’” said Ken. Nathan was sick at having to make that call. “It hurt so much. I know how much work it took for them to retire. It’s unfair. For me, well I’m young, [and] it’s when I’m supposed to work,” he said in the store last week. What made it worse is that the store was hit once before, in November 2008, when the little shop was invaded by armed robbers, who stole about $350,000 in goods.
bbotsford police are dismayed by the number of dangerous weapons being recovered after officers seized two homemade bombs recently, and discovered a third at an area residence Wednesday, a department spokesperson said. “We presently have three explosive devices – if we were in Afghani- “Even when you stan we would call think you’re going these Improvised Explosive Devices to just disperse a (IEDs) – that are group of kids, you’re currently being examined by the finding metal pipes, R C M P b o m b - zip guns and IEDs squad lab,” Const. Ian MacDonald that have been dissaid. carded. It’s getting He said he c o u l d n’t c o m - serious.” ment on whether the IEDs were – Const. Ian MacDonald APD capable of killing someone outright, or just seriously wounding them without more information. “The bomb squad will ultimately tell us,” MacDonald explained, further revealing that police have previously discovered similar bombs planted near mailboxes and schools. “Makeshift pipe bombs with nails in it, packed explosives . . . stuffed into PVC piping.” Police have also seized modified singleshot guns, one was a toy handgun modified to shoot a single round, he said. These “zip guns,” MacDonald said, are capable of killing someone and can be fashioned out of almost anything.
see HEIST, page A32
see BOMBS, page A38
Paying the price – JEAN KONDA-WITTE/TIMES
Lanka Jewels owner Ken Selvaraja and his wife are postponing their retirement after robbers hit the Mission family business last month. They and their two children who also work in the store have had to redraw their life plans as a result of the crime. CHRISTINA TOTH CToth@abbotsfordtimes.com
A
fter a robbery one month ago, Lanka Jewels seems restored and as tranquil as ever – the shop is hushed, the lighting is subdued and directed with care onto the precious stones and gold that twinkle and gleam in the polished glass cases. But things are not as they once were. The owners, Ken Selvaraja and his family, are emotionally bruised from the experience. They are trying to regain their bearings after their lives were all bumped off course by an event
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Heirlooms lost, ripples reach the family he supported in Sri Lanka that took a few short hours. “We have to scramble through and start all over again,” family patriarch Selvaraja said last week. At 68, he and his wife Sandra were eyeing retirement and were well on their way to handing the 31-year-old family business in Mission over to their daughter Naomi and son Nathan. Sometime in the early hours of May 19, thieves gained entry into the store by cutting through the wall from an adjacent business.
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They took about $400,000 in jewelry, custom work and high-end timepieces. Some items were irreplaceable heirlooms. (A similar heist hit a Cedar Park Place jewelry store in Abbotsford Sunday night. See page A6.) Ken and his wife were relaxing in Arizona, starting their retirement “dream journey,” he said, when he got the call from Nathan. “All our hard work and dreams of retirement were shattered by a phone call from my son. In a
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