COLOMBIAN RING LINKED TO ENCINO GEM HEIST.

Byline: Lisa Van Proyen Daily News Staff Writer

Detectives searched Tuesday for five armed men tied to an international ring of Colombian thieves who followed an Encino jewelry manufacturer to his home and robbed him of about $350,000 in jewelry, police said.

``This thing was an organized crime all the way from Atlanta where the suspects likely phoned ahead of time,'' said Detective Mike Woodings of the LAPD's Burglary-Auto Theft Division, which also handles organized crime.

The 50-year-old victim, whose identity was not released by police, had returned to Los Angeles International Airport on Monday night from a jewelry show at the Cobb Galleria Centre in Atlanta last weekend, police said.

Police believe the victim was targeted boarding his flight in Atlanta, with his canvas bags filled with gold jewelry.

``They had five hours of lead time for the game plan,'' Woodings said.

The victim had gone to the annual jewelry show to sell 14-carat bracelets, earrings, necklaces and rings, Woodings said.

His son picked up his father at LAX on Monday night, said LAPD Officer Mike Partain. When the two men arrived at their Alonzo Avenue home about 10:30 p.m., the five suspects approached them.

At least one of them was armed with a handgun and held it on the two as the four others grabbed the jewelry bags, police said. The robbers were described as Latinos in their mid-20s who were wearing masks, driving a gray Acura.

``They were very professional, very direct and appeared to know what they were doing. They were very regimented,'' Partain said.

No one was hurt in the robbery.

The robbery is nearly identical to one in West Los Angeles on Feb. 25 in which a jewelry manufacturer returned from a show in Las Vegas and was followed home before the thieves got away with $100,000 in jewelry, Woodings said.

``Generally, it's the wholesale guy who is targeted. They're the ones moving large quantities of jewelry,'' the detective said.

In all, the highly organized gang of 100-plus thieves is believed to have hit 29 times in California this year - 20 of those times in Los Angeles County, Woodings said.

On Saturday, they hit in Oakland. On Jan. 24, it was Rowland Heights.

``It's a different point of origin. Victims can be found coming and going. This has been going on for a lot of years,'' Woodings said.

Sometimes, the thieves will puncture the victim's car tires and when the victim gets out of his vehicle to check the tires, they target him, police said.

Rarely are the victims physically injured, he said.

Woodings believes that in most cases the brazen robbers quickly sell off the jewelry - at about 25 percent of its actual value - to jewelry stores in downtown Los Angeles.