A band of burglars are wanted for breaking into 13 homes in Queens and Brooklyn and stealing several of the homeowners’ luxury cars, police said Sunday.
The crew, which typically operates as a three- or four-person team, usually strikes in the wee hours of the morning, and has focused on the Whitestone neighborhood of Queens — though the crooks have also targeted homes in Bayside, Jamaica Estates, Bay Ridge, Holliswood, and Manhattan Beach.
The spree started on June 2 at a home near Point Crescent, and in the first three break-ins, the thieves were either chased off by a homeowner or startled by an alarm, cops said.
They had better luck in July, when they hit nine homes over a nine-day stretch, cops said. The crooks were scared off in only two of those break-ins.
From July 21 to 29, the thieves made off with an Audi SUV, a BMW sedan and SUV, a Range Rover SUV, a Porsche, a Mercedes Benz sedan, a Genesis sedan and another unspecified four-door sedan, police said.
Cops recovered three of the stolen vehicles.
Their most recent break-in happened on Aug. 2 at 1:50 a.m., when three suspects entered a house on Coleridge St. and Oriental Blvd. in Manhattan Beach.
Once inside, the trio grabbed jewelry and clothes, and made off with a Benz and a BMW SUV, driving north with their stolen rides on Coleridge St.
Burglaries are down by nearly 11 % this year across the city, which has seen 9,096 break-ins as of Aug. 27, compared to 10,209 in the same time frame last year.
But the city has seen a 19 % surge in auto thefts, with 10,334 as of Aug. 27, compared to 8,669 last year.
Police released photos of the suspects, and are asking anyone with information to call Crime Stoppers at (800) 577 TIPS.