Abseiling jewel thieves pull off $300 million heist in London

British police are hunting for a gang who raided safety deposit boxes in London’s jewellery district, making off with cash and gems in what may be the country’s biggest-ever heist. London’s Metropolitan Police said the thieves used heavy cutting equipment to get into the vault at Hatton Garden Safety Deposit Ltd, where they are believed to have broken into 60 to 70 boxes. The gang are thought to have tunnelled through walls and abseiled their way down a lift shaft.

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Former Flying Squad chief Barry Phillips

Local media reports the haul may be as much as 200 million pounds ($300 million), dwarfing the amounts taken in Britain’s previous biggest heists. Britain’s record heist was carried out at a Securitas cash depot in Tonbridge, southeast of London in 2006 when robbers stole almost 53 million pounds in cash. In 2000, police foiled a daring attempt to steal 350 million pounds worth of diamonds from a display at London’s Millennium Dome in what would have been the world’s biggest ever robbery.

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