'70 Boxes' Opened in HUGE Jewel Heist in London UK
Daily Mail UK, 11 April 2015
Detectives investigating a raid on a safe deposit firm in London's famous jewellery quarter believe up to 70 boxes were opened during the burglary.
A gang used heavy equipment to break in to a vault at Hatton Garden Safe Deposit company over the Easter weekend before police were alerted yesterday.
Jewellers spoke of their shock today and raised concerns about security at the building in Hatton Garden, which is described as the centre of London's diamond trade.
Burglars have broken into several boxes in a vault at the Hatton Garden Safe Deposit company
Scotland Yard has not commented on the value of items stolen but one jeweller said some of the boxes were worth up to £2 million each.
Michael Miller, from Knightsbridge in London, said he "felt sick" at the prospect of losing up to £50,000 of jewellery and watches which were uninsured.
He also feared that a £5,000 watch he bought for his son on the day he was born might have been stolen.
"I can't believe this has actually happened," he said.
"I have a collection of watches I was going to give my son and that is irreplaceable. I bought an IWC GST Aquatimer on the day my son was born and I was going to give it to him when he turns 18. They don't make them any more."
Mr Miller, who has held a deposit box with the company for almost 10 years, said he heard the thieves had "broken through a wall and got in that way".
The deposit boxes were used by many jewellers in the area to store their stock at the end of the day, and some could be worth £1 million or £2 million each, he added.
Another security box holder, Norman Bean, claimed a security guard had told him he "wasn't paid enough" to open up and look inside after he heard an alarm go off at the company on Friday.
"He just said he looked in, it all looked fine and I think he just went and that is it," Mr Bean said.
When asked if the company should have better security, he replied: "Of course they should. After six o'clock there is no security at all."
Mr Bean said the owners had not apologised to him or spoken to him at all.
"I am very upset. Mine was only a small amount, but it is still a lot to me," he added.
Neil Duttson, a diamond dealer who buys stones for private clients, said tracing any gems stolen in the heist would be nearly impossible.
He said: "Once diamonds have been re-cut and polished there is no geological map.
"I imagine they will be sat on for six months. You can expect some cheap diamonds will be coming on the market soon."
Officers from the Met's Flying Squad, which deals with bank heists and armed robberies, are investigating the incident.
A Metropolitan Police spokesman said: "This is a slow and painstaking process involving forensic examination, photographing the scene and recovering exhibits in meticulous detail in order to preserve the evidence. Officers anticipate this process to take approximately two days.
"At this stage it is believed that approximately 60-70 safety deposit boxes were opened during the burglary.
"Officers are working closely with Hatton Garden Safe Deposit Ltd to establish the identities of those affected. Police will be contacting victims directly as and when they are identified."
Michael Miller, a jeweller from Knightsbridge, has spoken of his 'extreme shock' over a safe deposit box heist
MORE;
Hatton Garden Raid: Police Failed to Respond to Alarm
The Met Police said they received a call on Friday 3 April at 00:21 BST.
Officers are now investigating why the call was given a grade that meant no police response was deemed necessary.
In a statement, the Met Police said: "It is too early to say if the handling of the call would have had an impact on the outcome of the incident."
Meanwhile CCTV footage has emerged which appears to show the group of burglars behind the raid.
The video shows men in high visibility jackets outside the safe deposit building.
One is seen pushing a wheelie bin, which the paper said could have contained the large drill used for breaking a hole through the lift shaft.
The Mirror said the men made two separate visits before leaving on Easter Sunday with the contents of 72 safety deposit boxes in wheelie bins and bags and making a getaway in a white van.
A source told the paper the raid was the work of a professional gang who "planned this job down to every last detail".
Scotland Yard has declined to comment on the footage.
'False alarms'
The Met Police has said items were stolen from at least 56 safety deposit boxes and officers are in the process of contacting the holders.
In total, 72 boxes were opened. Five were vacant and 11 were due to be opened by the company following the non-payment of fees, police said.
BBC Home Affairs Correspondent Danny Shaw said: "It is quite possible - and this is certainly one aspect that the inquiry will be looking at - that there had been so many false alarms previously that the police had decided not to respond to any more alerts.
"There is a police policy that if there are three false alarms in a 12-month period they won't respond anymore when intruder alarms go off and it is possible that may well have been what happened here."
He added that the security guard at the building had also been spoken to by officers.
Police said a heavy duty drill was used to bore holes to access the vault The force said the investigation into why the grade was applied to the phone call would be carried out locally.
Southern Monitoring Alarm Company contacted the Metropolitan Police central communications command and the call was recorded and transferred to the computer aided despatch system.
The call stated a confirmed intruder alarm had been activated at the Hatton Garden Safe Deposit Ltd, police said.
According to the Met's website, calls to the communications command are dealt with by an operator, who grades all incidents "in terms of their urgency".
The website: "First contact operators will question the caller and gain all the relevant information necessary to ensure the best police response.
"Having completed this, the operator will grade the call in accordance with standard operating procedures for the type of incident."
Calls are passed to a despatch operator for deployment if required and police resources are assigned depending on the type of incident, the site says.
Police said they found a "chaotic" scene inside the vault Previously, Scotland Yard said they were alerted to the burglary on Tuesday.
The Met said it was "photographing the scene and recovering exhibits in meticulous detail". It would not comment on the total value of items stolen.
A heavy duty drill was used to bore holes into the 6ft (2m) thick walls reinforced with concrete to access the vault after the thieves had climbed down a lift shaft.
Experts said it was likely the thieves made several holes until they had created a big enough space to get through, which would have taken an experienced operator several hours.
Hatton Garden is famous for jewellery and the vault was used mainly by local jewellers and gold dealers.