In our previous digital issue, Canadian Jeweller published “Under Siege,” a long-form investigation into one of the most shocking attacks our industry has ever seen: the armed robbery of Rajan Jewellers, a licensed home-based operation in Winnipeg’s Maples neighbourhood. This article is the direct continuation of that story, which you can read in full in the January 2026 digital issue at https://canadianjeweller.com/issues/cj-current-issue-2026-january-issue/. Four masked men stormed the Dhalla family home, shot owner Rajan Dhalla seven times in the legs, wounded his father, terrorized children during a birthday party, and escaped with about $1 million in gold—all in roughly three minutes.
That feature traced how Canada’s jewellery sector has become a preferred target for organized crime: not only storefronts in malls and plazas, but home-based businesses, family driveways, and private residences.
This blog is part two of that story—a direct continuation of the “Under Siege” investigation you will find in last month’s digital issue. If you have not downloaded it yet, go to canadianjeweller.com, open the digital editions section, and pull up the January 2026 issue. Read “Under Siege” in full, then come back to this piece for the 2026 update.
Below, you will find four key areas where the ground has shifted since we first went to press—and why the full long-form feature remains essential reading for every Canadian jeweller.
1. Gold Above US$5,000: Why Every Showcase Is Now a High-Value Target
When “Under Siege” was first drafted, gold was already expensive enough to put jewellers firmly on the radar of organised crime. Today, the numbers are even starker. As of 11 February 2026, world gold prices are hovering just above the US$5,000 mark, with recent spot quotes in the US$5,050–5,100 range depending on the trading session and data source.
At these levels, a single kilogram of gold carries a metal value north of US$160,000. A few trays of chains and bangles in the right part of your showcase represent what used to be bank-vault level value—small enough to carry out in a backpack, large enough to fund an entire series of “missions” for a youth crew.
The Rajan Jewellers case showed how precisely criminals now understand this math. Footage from the October 9, 2025, attack shows the gunmen heading directly for the area where a large assortment of gold was stored in glass display cases. They did not waste time hunting. They went straight to high-value inventory and were gone within minutes.
High gold prices do not only change criminal incentives; they also change the risk profile of every jewellery business model:
Home-based jewellers are now storing what amounts to a small bullion vault inside a residential property. That combination—family members plus high-value gold plus residential-grade security—is exactly what “Under Siege” analyzed in detail.
Mall and main-street jewellers are operating under a double squeeze: high replacement costs for inventory, higher insurance premiums tied to the value of what they carry, and a criminal ecosystem that now sees even a partial grab from a single showcase as a win.
Wholesalers and manufacturers are transporting metal in an environment where every shipment is effectively a rolling jackpot, and word spreads quickly whenever a shipment pattern is predictable.
The economic pressure is indisputable. But the key operational takeaway is this: at today’s gold prices, criminals do not need to clean you out to justify bringing guns to your door. A few seconds at the right counter in the right store—or the right room in a home-based operation—is enough.
“Under Siege” goes deeper into that calculus and walks you through how to re-think where, when, and how you hold gold on site. The newsletter blog you are reading now is meant to push you back to that playbook in the last digital issue, not replace it.
Youth Crews, Malls and Home Invasions
One of the most disturbing threads in our original feature was the deliberate recruitment of minors into violent jewellery crime. Police were already reporting that roughly 40 per cent of jewellery robberies involved youth, some as young as 13, being paid flat fees per robbery and reassured that “insurance will cover it” and “nothing serious happens” to young offenders.
The months since “Under Siege” have sadly confirmed that the trend is not fading.
In January 2026, Halton region saw yet another smash-and-grab jewellery robbery, with a 13-year-old boy taken into custody and at least three additional suspects on the loose. Police and regional media have linked this incident to a broader pattern of youth-led jewellery crime that has spread across multiple Ontario communities.
In Barrie, police and national media detailed a mid-afternoon robbery at Georgian Mall just before 2:30 p.m. on December 19, 2025. Five suspects in dark clothing smashed display cases at a jewellery store near the food court, sprayed an unknown irritant into the air, and fled with an undisclosed quantity of jewellery. Off-duty officers tackled one 14-year-old at the scene, and within two hours, four more youths aged 14 to 17 were under arrest after crashing a stolen vehicle and attempting to flee on foot.
These are not isolated “one-offs.” They sit on top of investigations like Peel Regional Police’s Project Night Train, which dismantled two interconnected criminal networks tied to 17 violent home invasions and jewellery store robberies between May and December 2024. Those networks left multiple victims with life-altering injuries and generated roughly $2 million in stolen vehicles, jewellery, and designer goods, with half eventually recovered.
Investigators have been explicit: young persons were not just present but central in many of those incidents. They rotated through roles—lookout, hammer, bagger, driver—under the direction of older organizers who rarely enter the store themselves.
Our original “Under Siege” feature explored how this youth pipeline operates: how recruits are pitched, what they are promised, and why jewellery businesses are treated as a “training ground” for more serious violent crime. This follow-up confirms that the pipeline is still operating in 2026.
The other major development is the continued blurring of lines between jewellery store robberies, home invasions, and luxury vehicle thefts. Project Night Train showed the same networks moving seamlessly between invading homes for luxury SUV keys, committing jewellery store smash-and-grabs, and driving over victims during vehicle thefts.
“Under Siege” connects that luxury web directly back to jewellers: how appointment lists, social media posts, and visible client demographics can make your store a node in a larger targeting grid. The reason we are driving you back to that digital issue is that it contains specific questions you can use to audit your own exposure, especially if you operate from a residence or serve high-profile clients.
Bail and Sentencing Reform
When the first “Under Siege” piece landed, many readers wrote in with a variation of the same question: “Even if we harden our stores, what happens if the same offenders are back out in months?”
Since then, the federal government has tabled the Bail and Sentencing Reform Act, Bill C-14—legislation explicitly framed as a response to repeat violent offending, organized crime, auto theft, and home invasions.
Bill C-14 proposes more than 80 targeted changes to the Criminal Code, the Youth Criminal Justice Act, and the National Defence Act. Several of those changes matter directly to anyone following the jewellery crime wave:
The bill creates new “reverse-onus” situations where, for certain serious offences and repeat offenders, the starting point is detention and the accused must show why they should be released on bail. This is particularly relevant in cases tied to organised crime and violent property offences, the same ecosystem that includes many jewellery robberies and home invasions.
It proposes tougher sentencing rules for serious and violent crimes, including specific attention to auto theft, break-and-enter, extortion, and arson. These offences are often part of the same crime packages as jewellery store robberies and home invasions. The Act would allow or require consecutive sentences in some of these situations, effectively increasing total time served for offenders convicted of multiple related crimes.
It also expands the definition of a “violent offence” in the youth system and strengthens information-sharing rules, meaning more youth cases tied to bodily harm could be treated as serious violent matters, not as minor property crime.
Police associations and municipal bodies have generally welcomed Bill C-14 as a step toward keeping some of the most persistent violent offenders off the street longer, though Indigenous groups and civil-liberties advocates have flagged concerns about over-incarceration and systemic bias.
For jewellers, the key is not to see this as a silver bullet. Even if C-14 passes in full and is implemented aggressively, it does not remove the need for individual businesses to upgrade security, adjust routines, and prepare their staff and families. What it does, potentially, is change the risk curve for a subset of repeat, high-harm offenders who currently move quickly through bail courts after being charged in multiple violent cases.
“Under Siege” was built on the assumption that jewellers cannot wait for Ottawa to save them. This follow-up confirms that assumption. Legislative change is an important context. Practical, store-level action is what buys you time and, in some cases, survival.
From Headline to Playbook: Why You Need the Full “Under Siege” Issue
This blog is intentionally not a full retelling of the Winnipeg shooting, the Toronto kidnapping case, or the Richmond Hill home invasion trail that connects jewellery buying to luxury car theft. Those pieces are already laid out in depth in last month’s digital issue.
What you get when you download that issue and read “Under Siege” front to back is more than a narrative. You get a working document you can put on the table at your next staff meeting, board discussion, or conversation with your insurer and local police.
The feature reconstructs the Rajan Jewellers attack in sequence, helping you map each step of the crime to your own physical layout and routines.
It shows how the risk escalates when your business is also your home, and how permit conditions, cultural expectations, and family life collide in home-based jewellery operations.
It profiles how youth recruitment into jewellery crime has evolved, including real-world cases where teens were paid flat fees and told myths about insurance and sentencing that have since led to life-altering criminal charges.
Most importantly, it offers a security and preparedness framework written in jeweller language, not security-industry jargon. Instead of generic advice, it walks you through questions like:
How many people know, roughly, when you carry your highest inventory levels?
Which doors and windows would a professional attacker choose first, and why?
Where are your family members when you host a viewing or appointment at home?
What would actually happen in your store in the first 30 seconds of an armed entry?
Those questions are there to make you uncomfortable now, so you are less vulnerable later. This blog, with its updated numbers on gold prices and crime patterns, is designed to send you back to those pages and encourage you to use them as a checklist, not just as a story.
Once you have read this follow-up, go to canadianjeweller.com, open the digital editions section, and download the January 2026 issue that contains “Under Siege” (or go directly via https://canadianjeweller.com/issues/cj-current-issue-2026-january-issue/). Share it with your co-owners, managers, and staff. Use it as the agenda for a security meeting. Take it with you when you sit down with your insurer or your local police liaison.
The criminals targeting Canada’s jewellery sector are sharing information, recruiting methodically, and adapting quickly to police tactics. The only practical response is for jewellers to share intelligence, strengthen each other, and treat security as a collective discipline—not a private shame after a robbery.
This blog is part two. The full “Under Siege” feature is the foundation. Download it, study it, and build your 2026 security plan on top of it.
