DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Somewhere, thieves are driving around with $1 million worth of designer sunglasses. They stole them by breaking through heavy security at the Costa Del Mar headquarters in Daytona Beach early Monday morning.
They took 12 pallets of sunglasses and police told WFTV, they don't think they will be showing up in your local flea market.
Detectives are pretty sure the group had a semi truck and backed up to the loading dock. Thousands of pairs of some of the most popular sunglasses in the industry were hauled right out of Costa Del Mar headquarters.
With retail prices as high as $250, police estimated the glasses stolen could be worth between $500,000 and $1 million.
"It's obvious they knew what they were doing. It was a well planned thing. They probably were in the business for a couple hours," said Jimmie Flynt, Daytona Beach Police Department.
Police still don't know how the group got past the magnetically locked doors, but don't suspect it was an inside job.
They took computers controlling the cameras, destroyed three alarm panels and cut the phone lines coming in to the building. The group missed one camera in the back that shows masked men taking time to wrap pallets, and load the glasses onto a waiting truck.
Costa Del Mar's, with lenses that eliminate glare, are almost standard equipment for anglers and boaters.
But Dave Lamotte, at Salty Dog Surf Shop in Daytona Beach, says younger buyers are asking for Costas more now, and they've become a number one or number two seller in stores.
"You can show them other glasses for the heck of it, but 99 percent of the time, they're going to buy Costa Del Mars'," said Dave LaMotte, business, owner.
The company president said he's heard another manufacturer in New York had a similar theft recently. Police are still looking into that and looking at video from a business next door to try to track down that semi truck.
WFTV
