Group of suspects attempt to burglarize Gaithersburg grocery store

A grocery store owner is hoping you can help police catch five people who attempted to burglarize his business Monday afternoon in Gaithersburg.

The suspects were all recorded on security video inside India Bazaar on Muddy Branch Road, but police told the store's owner, Jasbir Singh, that the suspects covered the license plate of their vehicle, so finding them will be tough.

Singh said the group was in the store for only 10 minutes and during that time, they walked around the store picking up items they pretended to be interested in. Meanwhile, as two of the suspects were distracting employees, three others tried to pry open the door to the manager's office with a screwdriver.

However, the office only opens by keycard and the suspects were not able to get inside. But they did walk out with some merchandise.

"Some of them were trying to get into the office, some of them were trying to steal from the store, and they did take some stuff also," said Singh. "They put it in their clothes, they hide it in their pants. They were probably wanting to get into the office, break into my safe."

Police said four of the female suspects were described as wearing hijabs. There was also a fifth male suspect seen attempting to open the office door on the store's surveillance video.

Back in November, a similar crime happened at a Falls Church, Virginia jewelry store by a group of seven people. Six of the suspects distracted the owner while a woman got into the safe and stole $200,000.

Police are looking to see if these two incidents are related.

In both incidents, the suspects got away in a tan Honda Odyssey. They did not cover their faces, but they did wear layers of baggy clothes to hide stuff in.

There have also been similar incidents in California and Pennsylvania.