News that three area stores were burglarized over the last several days is troubling.

The burglary spree reached a climax when hooded burglars smashed a glass door at the Sports Center in Natchez.

The Sports Center burglary was caught on video, showing the burglars smashing a window, running in and grabbing guns and getting out of the building in less than two minutes. Gun thieves also burglarized two other businesses — one in Natchez and one in Concordia Parish.

A master detective was not needed to figure out pretty quickly that the burglaries might be connected.

It did, however, take master detective work to prove it.

That’s where a joint investigation between multiple agencies comes into play.

Concordia Parish Sheriff’s Office, Natchez Police Department, Adams County Sheriff’s Office and Wilkinson County Sheriff’s Office teamed up to solve the crime.

Working from a tip, the agencies combined forces to work across jurisdictional lines to obtain a search warrant and round up the suspects, resulting in arrests Sunday.

As troubling as masterminding and coordination of the crime was in crossing state, county and parish lines, it is reassuring that the authorities worked together to bring the suspects to justice.

Master detective work seems to have prevailed over the crime spree, and as a result has hopefully kept illegally obtained guns out of the hands of criminals.

If the suspects are proven guilty, we hope the penalties are severe enough to deter such crimes in the future.

Great work, detectives!