Two brazen thieves stole $400,000 from the operators of several high-end JFK Airport shops yesterday, when they brazenly ambushed a company van at gunpoint on a busy Queens thoroughfare, law-enforcement sources said.
The thieves targeted a worker with International Shoppes, which runs Kennedy Airport’s duty-free concession shops, who had just made a morning collection run for the weekend’s receipts at JFK, the sources told The Post.
The worker was driving the $400,000 back to the company’s offices on Rockaway Avenue in Valley Stream, LI, at around 9:50 a.m., when his white company van was cut off by a Ford on South Conduit Avenue at 179th Street in Springfield Gardens, the sources said.
Two men jumped out of the car and ran up to his vehicle, with one pulling out a gun, the sources said.
The pair of perps then tied the victim up in the back of the van, pistol-whipped him, swiped the cash and fled, the sources said.
Several International Shoppes officials declined comment.
A woman answering the phone at the home of one company executive also declined to comment.
According to the company’s Web site, the firm operates ritzy airport boutiques including Cartier, Hermes, Salvatore Ferragamo, Mont Blanc and Hugo Boss.
Last year, the firm won a massive contract to extend its operations for another decade at Kennedy.
At the time, Matthew Greenbaum told the Moodie Report: “This is a huge development for us. JFK is our home base, so it’s really important to keep our business here and to grow it where we can.’’
One of last major heists involving Kennedy occurred inside the airport, when $1.5 million in Apple iPad minis were swiped late last year.
Nearly 3,250 of the pricey electronic gadgets were stolen from a cargo storage facility there after arriving from China. The hot goods were then trucked to Virginia before the ring was busted.
Additional reporting by Kate Sheehy