Just before 6 a.m., police responded to the Jewelry Center on Route 4 West after the activation of a burglar alarm.
They found the glass doors on the west side of the building had been smashed in.
Investigators determined that the suspects had backed a Ford F350 pickup truck through the glass doors, then attached a steel cable to the truck and a safe that had been located near the doors.
"They're very gutsy and yes they have nothing to lose," said Joseph Ayaz, the business' owner.
The burglars then used the pickup truck to pull the safe out of the building into the parking lot.
They used a small backhoe to load the safe into another unknown vehicle that fled the scene.
"It takes a lot of guts and grit to pull something like this off," Joseph Ayaz said.
The pickup truck and backhoe were both left at the scene. They were in and out in two minutes.
Police say the pickup truck had been reported stolen earlier in Essex County, while the backhoe was later reported stolen from a Route 17 construction site in Paramus.
The victims reported to police that the safe contained up to $250,000 worth of jewelry.
"They're professionals obviously. This is somebody who was calculated," said Robert Ayaz, the business' owner.
The Jewelry Center owners say the burglars knew they were being recorded.
They also tripped the alarm but didn't seem worried, perhaps betting the police response would be slow because of the early morning bad road conditions.
"Help us out trying to find these guys and put them away so it doesn't happen to other people," Robert Ayaz said.
Anyone who saw the incident or has information is asked to contact the Paramus Police Department at 201-262-3400 extension 553.
