SINGAPORE - Over $35,000 worth of jewellery was stolen from a store in Yew Tee Square on Saturday afternoon (Dec 15).

The police were alerted to the theft at the Choa Chu Kang Street 62 shopping centre at 4.41pm on Saturday.

The Straits Times understands that the incident took place at the mall's Gold Scale Jewels jewellery store.

The suspect is believed to be a young man who went to the shop asking to view different pieces of jewellery. He walked in and out of the shop several times, taking photos of the jewellery pieces and asking if he could get a discount on some of the pieces on display.

At one point, he even told the store assistant that he would come back with his girlfriend.

During one of his visits, he allegedly took advantage of the crowd in the store and the fact that the sales assistant was distracted to grab the jewellery which he had earlier asked to examine and flee.

An employee at a neighbouring store, who gave her name only as Ms Zheng, told Chinese daily Lianhe Wanbao that four of the jewellery store's staff were present when the incident happened.

She said that two of the staff chased the suspect but were unable to catch him.

ST understands that the suspect, who made off with $35,886 worth of jewellery, including three necklaces and one pendant, had yet to be arrested as of 8.30pm on Sunday.

When contacted, the manager of Gold Scale Jewels' Yew Tee Square outlet declined to comment.

The police are investigating the incident.