TEN HELD, BELIEVED PART OF JEWELRY THEFT RING GROUP LINKED TO MORE THAN 40 ROBBERIES.

Byline: Lisa Van Proyen Staff Writer

CANOGA PARK - Ten people suspected of being members of a Colombian jewel-theft ring were arrested Friday, a day after members of the same group took 2,000 pieces of silver jewelry from a San Fernando Valley woman, police said.

Investigators said the men arrested on Venice Boulevard off the San Diego Freeway were not involved in Thursday's robbery but belong to the same international ring.

The suspects were arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to commit robbery, after detectives saw them try to follow a jewelry owner from his downtown Los Angeles store to LAX, said Detective Michael Woodings of the Los Angeles Police Department's Burglary-Auto Detail.

``In the last three years, the level of violence has gone up. The suspects will use any means possible to steal jewelry,'' Woodings said.

Police said the Colombian ring is responsible for more than 40 heists citywide in the past year and netted about $500 million during each of the past three years, police said.

So brazen and elusive is the ring that the FBI announced it will help police and work to bring federal charges against the robbers.

``We're banding together to work on the problem,'' said FBI Assistant Special Agent Patrick A. Patterson, in charge of the Violent Crime Program in Los Angeles.

In the latest robbery, thieves in two vehicles followed the woman from her Hill Street jewelry store downtown to within a few blocks of her home about 8:30 p.m. Thursday.

Woodings said the thieves slashed her tire as she stopped at a signal and then robbed her in the 6700 block of Shoup Avenue.

``They ran up and threw her to the ground and jumped in her car,'' Woodings said. They drove a few blocks and then fled in the other two vehicles with the stolen silver necklaces and bracelets worth about $60,000, police said.

Detectives said the woman suffered minor injuries and declined to identify herself out of fear for her safety.

Investigators said the ring focuses on jewelry because it can be resold quickly and is not identified easily. Gold jewelry with unique designs can be easily melted down.

Just three weeks into 2000, Thursday's heist is the seventh statewide, six of which occurred in Los Angeles County.

With the second-largest jewelry district in the nation next to New York's 47th Street, Los Angeles accounts for about one-third of such robberies nationwide, Woodings said.

``We always lead the pack,'' he said.

Ronny Lavin, a coordinator at the California Jewelry Association in Los Angeles, said jewelry thieves have become more violent and organized.

``It's just getting worse. The gangs are getting more sophisticated. They're well-organized. They're not just street thugs,'' Lavin said.