The weekend saw yet another high profile jewel heist in London, this time at the Royal Exchange in the City of London (pictured below).
At about 10pm on Saturday night a red BMW drew up outside a back entrance of the Royal Exchange.
Robbers then managed to get past the building’s wrought iron gates before reportedly using sledgehammers to smash their way into the De Beers and Omega boutiques, grabbing diamond jewellery and luxury watches before making off in the BMW.
It’s understood that an alarm went off at nearby Tiffany & Co but it’s not thought that anything was stolen from there.
The Royal Exchange is just yards from the Bank of England in the financial heart of the City of London.
It was founded in 1565 by Sir Thomas Gresham as a centre of share-dealing commerce for the city, but these days it acts as an upmarket shopping centre for well-heeled bankers and City traders.
The timing of the raid was well chosen: Saturday night is about the only time of the week when the area is quiet, with City traders away from their desks as the world’s markets are closed.
Police are studying CCTV footage and have appealed for help from the public to trace the car, the stolen items, and the raiders. Pending a stock take by De Beers and Omega, no details have yet been released on the stolen items or their value.
This incident follows last year’s record-breaking raid at Graff in Mayfair in which a reported £40m in gems and jewellery were stolen and for which 4 men were sentenced to a total of 71 years in prison earlier this month. The gems were never recovered.
Last August another London raid netted raiders £1m in jewels in less than a minute in a daylight smash & grab at Mozafarian jewellers, located near Harrods in Knightsbridge.
This is the second such incident in London for De Beers this year, following the £2.5m ‘sledgehammer raid‘ at their shop (as well as Tiffany & Co) across town at the Westfield shopping centre in May.
In the wake of that attack the CEO of De Beers jewellery stores, François Delage, commented that this was “yet another reminder of the timeless allure of diamonds”, which showed an admirable talent for turning a crime into a marketing opportunity for diamonds.
Update, 17th August 2010: Police now say that the retail value of the stolen jewellery is around £380,000. This is a slightly more sober assessment of incurred losses than some press reports yesterday which mentioned figures as high as £4 million.
Speaking of peculiar press reports, the front page of yesterday’s Daily Mirror caught my eye:
Apart from the entirely speculative statement “Gang steal £1m gems at shops“, I fail to understand the headline: “De Beers Monsters“.
Is that some sort of pun? Am I being thick?
I don’t see how De Beers can be called monsters as a result of being robbed, even by the Daily Mirror. Am I missing something?
If you can shed some light, please comment below…
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