London Jewelry Boca Raton Heist Nets $300 Million (UPDATE)

April 8th, 2015 I wrote:

Easter is a holiday celebrated worldwide.  There are over 2 billion Christians living in the world and most all of them celebrate some form of Easter.  Whether they go to church, participate in an Easter Egg hunt, or do something different, it’s a holiday everyone knows.  And by everyone I even mean criminal masterminds.  That’s right, crooks.  Give them some credit, they chose to rob Hatton Garden Safe Deposit Ltd. over Easter because it was a long weekend.  Plenty of time to get in and out without anyone noticing a thing.  By the time the theft was realized the robbers could have escaped halfway across the world.  It was the perfect heist.  Steal from safe deposit boxes which are hard to insure because no one knows what’s in them.  And do it over a long weekend when no one will know anything is missing.  What a great way to steal jewelry Boca Raton.  Oh and did I mention they estimated $300 million was stolen!

Reports are that the burglars used heavy machinery to break into a vault used by gold dealers and jewelers.  As of this moment, it is not clear who or how many people was affected, but we do know what over 70 safe deposit boxes were opened and cleared out.  BBC News correspondent Daniel Sandford said: “There is still a concern that the thieves may have had some kind of inside knowledge. For example, the brand new alarm system which had just been fitted in the building had not yet been switched on.”  A lot of times these high profile cases involve an “inside job”.  This is where someone with knowledge of the day to day operations, usually someone who works there, organizes a theft.  It’s usually too hard for someone with no knowledge of the inside of a building to rob it.  This sounds like a classic inside job scenario fit for a Hollywood movie script.

Michael Miller, a jeweller from Knightsbridge, said he “felt sick” at the prospect of losing up to £50,000 of uninsured jewellery and watches.  He said a £5,000 watch he bought for his son might have been stolen and he felt “dismay, shock and disbelief” when he heard the news.  James Riley who is a gem expert said most jewelers who used the boxes for storage most likely had everything insured, but individuals probably did not.  “If you can’t afford your jewellery insurance you put it in a safety deposit box which is going to cost you between £300 to £400 a year and you know it is the most secure place you can put it as your insurance company would be very happy with you putting it there,” he said.

Norman Bean, who had a diamond ring and bracelets stored at Hatton Garden Safe Deposit, said he was told the burglars accessed the vault via a lift shaft.  “They went down the lift shaft, made a big hole in the wall, got into the safe deposit and I think they drilled into the boxes.”  “They could have been there all weekend, who knows? It’s a disgrace, it’s like something out of a film,” added Mr Bean.

Update

Since this heist happened over 3 weeks ago, there is still little known about the suspects.  However, every so often some new information comes out about exactly what happened.  This week new pictures were released from inside the safe and elevator shafts.  The thieves cut a small hole through two feet of concrete to gain access to the vault.  But before that they climbed down elevator shafts which makes you think of the Ocean’s movies.  Below are some pictures released this week.

This is a picture of the hole the thieves cut to gain access to the vault.

These are bars that were ripped open from the vault door.

This is a view of the same hole from inside the vault.

A pile of safe deposit boxes emptied.