Tulsa business wants to find the thieves who stole their safe

An east Tulsa business is trying to solve a mystifying crime. Someone broke in and stole a 6,000 pound safe made of concrete and steel. <br/><br/>The burglars used cutting torches to break into the safe,

Thursday, November 24th 2005, 3:03 pm

By: News On 6

An east Tulsa business is trying to solve a mystifying crime. Someone broke in and stole a 6,000 pound safe made of concrete and steel.

The burglars used cutting torches to break into the safe, took some valuables, but left others, then welded it back shut. Now, the business is putting up $5,000 for information.

Tulsa Police recovered the stolen safe less than a day after it was stolen. They dusted it for prints and returned it to the owner, but he was nervous about cutting into it, since the thieves had welded it closed and then painted the welds with black paint so they called out the bomb sniffing dogs, in case the safe was booby-trapped.

Bob Hafner with Custom Metal Works: "What's weird is that safe was made in 1885 and they knew exactly where to cut the trip bar and bolts." The bomb dogs didn't find anything suspicious, so the owners started cutting into the safe to see if the valuables that had been inside, still were.

They got half lucky, many valuables were gone, but the rare guns kept inside, were still there. "Very valuable. I'll just tell you one gun, it's a Blaza, made in Germany and it's worth $6,300 and that's not with the scope on it.â€

The thieves had used a forklift to load the safe into one of the company trucks. The owners have gone through dozens of scenarios and none make sense, but it does make them mad. "I work 10-14 hours a day, seven days a week. I gain material things and they want to take them away from you. It's not right."

Bob plans to add at least $5,000 to the Crimestoppers reward fund. So, if anyone has information about this safe or who took it, they can call Crimestoppers at 596-COPS.

You don't have to give your name and if your tip leads to an arrest, the Crime Commission will pay you a cash reward.