UK police: 9 arrested over London’s Hatton Garden heist

Laura Smith-Spark
By Laura Smith-Spark, CNN
2 minute read
Updated 5:24 AM EDT, Wed May 20, 2015
Thieves plundered millions in valuables over Easter holiday from the vault of a safety deposit company in Hatton Garden, London's exclusive jewelry district. Stolen cash and jewelry could be worth almost $300 million (£200m), <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-32215206" target="_blank" target="_blank">a former Scotland Yard commander told the BBC</a>, though numerous British news organizations put the loss vastly lower, in the hundreds of thousands of pounds.
Thieves plundered millions in valuables over Easter holiday from the vault of a safety deposit company in Hatton Garden, London's exclusive jewelry district. Stolen cash and jewelry could be worth almost $300 million (£200m), a former Scotland Yard commander told the BBC, though numerous British news organizations put the loss vastly lower, in the hundreds of thousands of pounds.
Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images
In July 2013, an armed robber <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2013/07/29/world/europe/cannes-jewelry-theft/index.html">held up a jewelry exhibition at the Carlton Hotel</a> in the French resort city of Cannes, stealing jewels worth an estimated 102 million euros ($136 million).
In July 2013, an armed robber held up a jewelry exhibition at the Carlton Hotel in the French resort city of Cannes, stealing jewels worth an estimated 102 million euros ($136 million).
VALERY HACHE/AFP/Getty Images
In 1978 gangster Jimmy "The Gent" Burke stole $8 million in cash and jewels from John F. Kennedy International Airport. It was considered the largest robbery in U.S. history at the time. Burke died in 1996 while serving 20 years to life in a New York prison when he fell ill with cancer. In January 2014, five alleged mobsters were arrested on racketeering charges related to the 1978 heist.
In 1978 gangster Jimmy "The Gent" Burke stole $8 million in cash and jewels from John F. Kennedy International Airport. It was considered the largest robbery in U.S. history at the time. Burke died in 1996 while serving 20 years to life in a New York prison when he fell ill with cancer. In January 2014, five alleged mobsters were arrested on racketeering charges related to the 1978 heist.
Nick Sorrentino/NY Daily News Archive via Getty Images
In 1990, robbers posing as Boston police officers entered the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum's security door, then handcuffed the guards on duty to pipes in the basement. The 13 pieces of stolen artwork, including works by Rembrandt and Vermeer, were valued at $500 million, and are yet to be recovered, despite a $5 million reward offered by the museum for their recovery. Earlier this month, the museum offered $100,000 for the return of one stolen item: a 10-inch-tall gilded bronze eagle -- a finial dating from the Napoleonic era.
In 1990, robbers posing as Boston police officers entered the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum's security door, then handcuffed the guards on duty to pipes in the basement. The 13 pieces of stolen artwork, including works by Rembrandt and Vermeer, were valued at $500 million, and are yet to be recovered, despite a $5 million reward offered by the museum for their recovery. Earlier this month, the museum offered $100,000 for the return of one stolen item: a 10-inch-tall gilded bronze eagle -- a finial dating from the Napoleonic era.
file/AP
A gang of robbers posing as a landscape company dug a tunnel underneath Banco Central in Fortaleza, Brazil. On a Saturday in August 2005, they broke through concrete and steel into a vault and stole $69.8 million (165 million Brazilian reais). A few involved have been caught, but it remains an open case.
A gang of robbers posing as a landscape company dug a tunnel underneath Banco Central in Fortaleza, Brazil. On a Saturday in August 2005, they broke through concrete and steel into a vault and stole $69.8 million (165 million Brazilian reais). A few involved have been caught, but it remains an open case.
TUNO VIERA/AFP/Getty Images
Cybercriminals from New York <a href="http://money.cnn.com/2013/05/09/technology/security/cyber-bank-heist/index.html">stole $45 million from banks</a> globally by breaking into the banks' systems to drastically increase the amount available on the cards, and then used the information about the cards to withdraw money at banks around the world. Seven were charged and the group leader, Alberto Yusi Lajud-Peña, was killed in April 2013. The photo shows suspects Elvis Rafael Rodriguez (left) and Emir Yasser Yeje, pose with bundles of cash.
Cybercriminals from New York stole $45 million from banks globally by breaking into the banks' systems to drastically increase the amount available on the cards, and then used the information about the cards to withdraw money at banks around the world. Seven were charged and the group leader, Alberto Yusi Lajud-Peña, was killed in April 2013. The photo shows suspects Elvis Rafael Rodriguez (left) and Emir Yasser Yeje, pose with bundles of cash.
U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York/AP
Wearing suits and in professional disguise makeup, two men stole 43 items worth $65 million in the middle of the day from Graff Jewelry Store in London in 2009. They threatened employees with handguns while collecting the merchandise, then drove off in a BMW. The two men were later arrested and jailed. Among the stolen items was this platinum diamond pendant hat.
Wearing suits and in professional disguise makeup, two men stole 43 items worth $65 million in the middle of the day from Graff Jewelry Store in London in 2009. They threatened employees with handguns while collecting the merchandise, then drove off in a BMW. The two men were later arrested and jailed. Among the stolen items was this platinum diamond pendant hat.
Metropolitan Police/Getty Images
Just hours before the United States began bombing Iraq in 2003, Saddam Hussein's family took $1 billion from the country's central bank. People who lived near the Central Bank at the time told CNN that they saw three or four trucks backed up to the bank, and that people appeared to be load money onto them. Since he was acting as an absolute ruler at the time, it may have seemed to him more like a withdrawal than a robbery.
Just hours before the United States began bombing Iraq in 2003, Saddam Hussein's family took $1 billion from the country's central bank. People who lived near the Central Bank at the time told CNN that they saw three or four trucks backed up to the bank, and that people appeared to be load money onto them. Since he was acting as an absolute ruler at the time, it may have seemed to him more like a withdrawal than a robbery.
David Furst/Pool/Getty Images
In 1983, six thieves broke into the Brink's-MAT warehouse at Heathrow Airport in London, thinking they would grab a few million in cash. However, they found gold ingots, diamonds and cash worth a total of 28 million pounds (about $50 million at the time). The thieves tied up three guards, doused them in gasoline and said they would light the guards on fire if they didn't give the pass codes to the vault. Just three of 15 men involved in planning and executing the robbery were ever convicted.
In 1983, six thieves broke into the Brink's-MAT warehouse at Heathrow Airport in London, thinking they would grab a few million in cash. However, they found gold ingots, diamonds and cash worth a total of 28 million pounds (about $50 million at the time). The thieves tied up three guards, doused them in gasoline and said they would light the guards on fire if they didn't give the pass codes to the vault. Just three of 15 men involved in planning and executing the robbery were ever convicted.
Alessia Pierdomenico/Bloomberg via Getty Images
9 notorious multimillion-dollar heists

Story highlights

NEW: Police arrest two more suspects in connection with Hatton Garden raid

Seven suspects aged from 48 to 76 were earlier arrested in north London and Kent

Thieves who broke into the vault of Hatton Garden Safe Deposit took gems and cash

London CNN  — 

Nine men have been arrested in connection with the so-called Hatton Garden heist, last month’s theft of gems and cash from a safe deposit company in the heart of London’s jewelry district, the Metropolitan Police said Tuesday.

Seven suspects, aged from 48 to 76, were detained on suspicion of conspiracy to burgle on Tuesday morning, a police statement said.

Two more suspects, aged 43 and 58, were detained later Tuesday in north London on the same grounds.

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uk hatton garden heist arrests foster earlystart _00011127.jpg
AFP/Getty Images/U.K. Metropolitan Police
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Related video 9 arrested over London's Hatton Garden heist

More than 200 officers who raided a dozen properties in north London and in Kent, south of London, on Tuesday morning recovered “a number of large bags containing significant amounts of high value property,” the police said.

“Officers are confident these are items stolen during the burglary.”

The men have been taken to a London police station for questioning, police said. Searches of the properties are continuing.

The seven suspects arrested in the morning were described as all being British.

Police: Officers worked ‘relentlessly’

Thieves broke into the vault of Hatton Garden Safe Deposit Ltd. over the Easter holiday and may have been able to take as long as four days to rifle through the boxes.

They used a drill to bore through a 6-foot-thick wall and gain access to the basement vault where the safe deposit boxes were, police said at the time.

The Metropolitan Police said its officers had worked “relentlessly” over the past six weeks to track down those responsible and recover the stolen goods.

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cnn$ top five jewelry heists_00021813.jpg
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Related video The 5 biggest jewelry heists in history

“An intense investigation has been undertaken to ensure the victims, the individual box owners, the small businesses and the wider Hatton Garden community can get justice,” it said.

However, the force acknowledged that its initial response to an intruder alarm triggered by the thieves at the safe deposit company had been lacking and said it was working to improve its systems.

Value of losses unconfirmed

Speaking outside New Scotland Yard, the force’s headquarters, Cmdr. Peter Spindler said the processes that the Met Police have in place with alarm companies had not been followed.

“As a result of that, officers did not attend the premises when in fact they probably should have done; and for that I want to apologize,” he said.

Police haven’t given a precise value for what was taken. Numerous British news organizations put the value of the loss in the hundreds of thousands of pounds, but a former police official in London has speculated it could run to £200 million ($310 million), an estimate widely reported by news media.

CNN’s Alexander Felton contributed to this report.