14 DAY TRIAL // The Metropolitan Police in London released a video asking citizens for help in solving the case of the multi-million-pound robbery at the Hatton Garden Safe Deposit over the Easter weekend.
The vault at Hatton Garden Safe Deposit shelters high-value goods, as it is used by jewelers to store their products. In total, 72 safe-deposit boxes were opened by the perpetrators.
Suspects climbed down an elevator shaft, used industrial drill
The police are resorting to any means that could help them catch the thieves, whose actions seem as if taken from the movie The Bank Job (2008), which is based on a real robbery in 1971 at a bank on Baker Street.
14 images from the heist scene captured via CCTV have been released by the police, showing how the perpetrators managed to enter the premises.
Heavy duty equipment (Hilti DD350 drill) was used to bore holes into a 50-cm (19-in) thick wall made of reinforced concrete, which secured the vault perimeter. The robbers reached the vault area by climbing down an elevator shaft from the ground floor, after entering through a side door.
The suspects were first seen on Thursday, April 2, after 9 PM, and left the building the next morning, after 8 AM.
“They returned to the scene soon after 2200hrs on Saturday, 4 April and were recorded on CCTV leaving the premises at around 0640hrs on Easter Sunday, 5 April,” says in a video (embedded below) Craig Turner, Flying Squad Detective Superintendent. Up to six thieves have been seen entering and leaving the building.
Total value of the goods stolen may never be known
The police is offering a £20,000 ($30,200 / €28,000) reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of those responsible for the Hatton Garden burglary.
As for the value of the goods stolen, there are no official details, and since safe-deposit boxes have been plundered, there is a chance that not all the goods will be declared by the victims.
Hatton Garden is a street in the London Borough of Camden where there are numerous jewelry stores. It is considered to be the center of the UK diamond trading.
