On Tuesday police released surveillance camera photos of two men
sought for questioning over the heist as well as images of some of the
rings, bracelets, necklaces and watches taken from Graff Jewellers on
central London's New Bond Street. A total of 43 items were taken, with
a value of about £40 million, or about $65 million, Scotland Yard said.
The heist occurred Thursday, when two men walked into the jewelry store
at about 4:40 p.m. and threatened employees with handguns. As the
robbers were leaving the store, they brought a female worker outside
with them before leaving in a blue BMW, Scotland Yard said. A shot was
fired outside the store, but no one was injured.
The men
abandoned the BMW nearby, firing a second shot into the ground,
Scotland Yard said. Police believe they switched to a silver Mercedes,
then later to a black vehicle, possibly a Ford or Volkswagen.
"This was a well-planned robbery with a number of vehicles used to help
the robbers escape," Detective Chief Inspector Pam Mace said in the
statement. "These men are extremely dangerous and fired at least two
shots in busy London streets as they made their getaway.
"Someone knows who these men are," she said. "They would undoubtedly
have spoken about (the robbery) before or boasted about it afterwards.
I would urge anyone who recognizes them, knows the whereabouts of the
jewelry or has any other information to contact us."
The images
show the two men dressed in suits and ties. One man is white, about 30,
police said. The second is a black man believed to be in his 30s with
short hair. Both men are thought to have spoken with London accents, Scotland Yard said.
The robbery is the latest in a spate of daytime thefts at jewelry
stores and designer shops in London's exclusive shopping areas of Bond
Street, which includes New Bond Street.
Groups of men or
teenagers typically stage "smash and grab" robberies, in which they
break the windows and steal anything they can get their hands on before
speeding away in waiting cars or motorbikes.
A CNN camera crew filming in March on Oxford Street, near Bond
Street, caught a group of thieves speeding away on motorbikes from a
jewelry store they had just robbed.
The
thieves choose to strike during the day when a store's security system
is typically disarmed, even though the store and sidewalk may be
crowded with people.