Jeweler Reports $5-Million Theft

A jewelry dealer preparing to return home to Las Vegas claimed he had more than $5 million worth of jewelry stolen from him at Lindbergh Field on Monday afternoon, police said.

Jamshid Mahban, 50, said he was standing at the America West ticket counter at the East Terminal about 1:15 p.m. when he set his two, oversized briefcases next to him, Harbor Police Sgt. Sharon Bergan said.

Mahban told police he turned around after several minutes and noticed his briefcases were missing, Bergan said.

Mahban told police he ran outside, and a witness told him that two men wearing white T-shirts and khaki pants had run from the East Terminal. The men climbed into a waiting blue square-back sedan with old-style black and gold California license plates and left the airport in an unknown direction, Bergan said.

Mahban, a self-employed jewelry dealer, told police he had just attended a jewelry show in San Diego and was carrying rings, watches, bracelets and precious and semi-precious stones in his briefcases, Bergan said.