LONDON, (Reuters) – Police released pictures yesterday of two men wanted in connection with one of Britain’s biggest gem heists — a 40 million pound armed raid on a luxury jewellers in London in which shots were fired.
The smartly dressed duo went into Graff Jewellers in the upmarket Mayfair district last Thursday afternoon, threatened staff with handguns and briefly took a female member of staff hostage.
They took 43 items — rings, bracelets, necklaces and watches together valued at $65 million (just under 40 million pounds) — and fired a shot as they left the premises. The staff member was left outside the shop and no one was injured.
Detective said the robbers made their getaway in a blue BMW, which they abandoned a few streets away when a second shot was fired into the ground.
The men then switched to a silver Mercedes and, in another swap shortly afterwards, several suspects got into a black car in a nearby road.
“This was a well planned robbery with a number of vehicles used to help the robbers escape,” said Detective Chief Inspector Pam Mace. “These men are extremely dangerous and fired at least two shots in busy London streets as they made their getaway.”
Media reports said the raid was thought to be Britain’s biggest jewel robbery.
In 2003, an eastern European crime syndicate carried out a 23 million pound diamond raid at Graff’s. Two members of the gang were later jailed for 20 years for their roles in the raid.
