Thieves Not Cut Out for Diamond Caper at Dome

They smashed into the Millennium Dome’s “Money Zone” in an earthmover Tuesday and apparently planned to escape by speedboat along the River Thames with $500 million worth of diamonds and a claim to the world’s biggest jewelry heist.

Instead, thieves breaking into London’s unpopular tourist attraction were surrounded by Scotland Yard police, many of them disguised as janitors and concealing their guns in trash bags.

And the prize diamonds the intruders were after, including the 203-carat De Beers Millennium Star? The real jewels had been replaced with crystal fakes the day before.

The daytime robbery was “an audacious plan,” said Jon Shatford, the Metropolitan Police detective in charge of the operation to foil it. But, he added, “there was an overwhelming number of officers there to ensure this raid was unsuccessful.”

The Millennium Dome, once touted as the centerpiece of the British government’s millennium projects, is a $1.2-billion spiked tent in Greenwich, on the southeastern edge of London. Despite sparkling displays such as the De Beers diamonds in its 14 themed pavilions, the dome is doomed. It is scheduled to close at the end of the year for lack of attendance and is up for sale.

The pear-shaped Millennium Star, considered one of the most perfect diamonds in the world, has been displayed along with 11 blue diamonds inside a reinforced glass cylinder in the dome’s Money Zone, under the gaze of security cameras and high-tech alarms.

There was no indication as to who the robbers might be, but there was speculation that they weren’t professionals: The diamonds would have been difficult to sell because they are so rare.

Police said they had been tipped off weeks ago, after the theft of a floor plan of the zone, that robbers would make a grab for the jewels, according to the Evening Standard newspaper. Scotland Yard set a trap and lay in wait.

About half an hour before the dome was due to open Tuesday morning, the robbers drove a yellow excavator through a perimeter fence and a metal roller door to the dome before crashing into the Money Zone. They ignited ammonia and smoke bombs and ran for the display case with hammers in a maneuver one police observer described as “straight out of the ‘Thomas Crown Affair.’ ”

But Scotland Yard’s “flying squad,” an elite unit to tackle robberies, pounced, overpowering and arresting the gang of four.

Two of the robbers’ alleged cohorts were arrested on the nearby Thames, one of them with a speedboat believed to be waiting to make a James Bond-style getaway. Six other suspected accomplices were detained in Kent, police said.

They said no shots were fired and no one was injured in the operation that involved more than 100 officers.

Spokesmen for the New Millennium Experience Co., which operates the dome, said the tourist attraction wasn’t open to the public at the time of the attempted robbery. But scores of employees were already on the job, and many had to dive for cover.

“I heard footsteps running behind me, and two guys shouted: ‘Armed police. Move!’ ” employee Andrew Lucas told reporters at the dome.

“Five or six seconds later there were two cracks, like gunfire,” said another witness who asked not to be named.

At least one employee grabbed a video camera. Sky television showed pictures of a man sitting on the ground, hands apparently cuffed behind his back, at the feet of a police officer.

“If this robbery had been carried out in accordance with their wishes, it would have been the biggest robbery anywhere in the world,” Shatford said.

De Beers spokeswoman Liz Lynch said the real and rare jewels would be put back on display once police have given the go-ahead.

The greatest recorded theft of jewels was from the Carlton Hotel in Cannes, France, where gems worth $45 million were stolen from the hotel jewelry store by a three-man gang in August 1994.

A Foiled Heist

Thieves trying to steal jewels from the Millennium Dome on Tuesday were thwarted by police disguised as janitors. The robbers used an earthmover to plow into the fence surrounding the dome in order to access the “Money Zone,” where the jewels are usually housed.

Sources: BBC, news reports