LONDON, March 7: Disguised as Afghan women, a couple bluffed their way into an upmarket London jewellers, produced pistols from under their burqas, threatened staff and made off with a large haul of rings, watches and bracelets, police said on Thursday.

The couple, described as a white man wearing blue jeans under his burqa and aged about 25, and a woman with brown eyes, made off with around 300,000 dollars worth of diamond-encrusted bracelets and other valuable items from Ramot on Sloane Street in posh Knightsbridge.

The robbers, who struck around 10 am on Wednesday, attracted no attention from passers-by in a part of London where wealthy people from all over the world come to shop for luxury items. Muslim women from many countries are a common sight here.

The couple took the keys to the display cabinets before leaving the scene in a black Mercedes Benz, driven by a black man.

The jewellery taken was unique to the store, according to Scotland Yard.

“I was in the back office when a young woman dressed in a black yashmak rang on the shop door bell. My two girl shop assistants let her in but as soon as they did a man, also dressed from head to foot in Arabic gear, jumped in,” the shop’s manageress said.

“He screamed, ‘Armed robbery’ and I opened the office door to find him pointing a gun straight at me,” she told Thursday’s Sun newspaper. Staff were instructed to lie on the floor as the robbers stuffed their loot into a bag.—dpa