London jewellery burglary: 'Hundreds of thousands of pounds'' worth of jewellery stolen from Hatton Garden

The burglars are believed to have entered the building via the lift shaft

A policeman emerges from a Hatton Garden safe deposit, where burglars broke into safety deposit boxes. (Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images)

Burglars equipped with heavy cutting tools have broken into several safety deposit boxes in London’s jewellery quarter, and stolen jewellery believed to be worth hundreds of thousands of pounds.

Police were called to the scene in central London’s Hatton Garden at around 8:10 am today, and officers from the Metropolitan Police’s Flying Squad are now carrying out an investigation on the raid.

The burglars are thought to have targeted the Hatton Garden Safe Deposit company over the Easter bank holiday weekend.

Some reports suggested that as many as 300 boxes were broken into.

Diamond jewellery expert Lewis Malka, who works on Hatton Garden, tweeted: "Quiet day in the office and then I find out one of my client's antique bracelets was stolen in the Hatton Garden robbery."

He added that the haul likely amounts to "hundreds and hundreds of thousands of pounds" and said that "most of the people who have got safety deposits there are people in the trade."

"I know for a fact that some of my work colleagues have got boxes down there and we are talking about hundreds and hundreds of thousands of pounds in goods."

Jewels on display at the Hatton Garden Safe Deposit (EPA)

Mr Malka said it is likely the suspects entered the building by the lift shaft, before entering the basement.

Both complete jewellery pieces and loose diamonds in packets were kept in the safety deposit area.

"The police aren't allowing anyone in yet, so no one is too sure whose box has or hasn't been touched," he said.

"With the robbers having probably four days over the Easter weekend, there's a good chance that they went through everything."

The incident is not the first time safe deposit boxes in the Hatton Garden area, famed for its diamond and gold trade, area have been targeted.

In 2003 jewellery, cash and valuables worth an estimated £1.5 million were stolen when a criminal emptied a number of boxes at the Hatton Garden Safe Deposit Co after posing as a customer.

And in July 1978, London suffered what is thought to be one of the largest robberies in history, when the Knightsbridge Safe Deposit Centre was targeted.

Robbers carried out the raid by asking to rent a safety deposit box. As staff showed them into the vault, the robbers produced hand guns and stole an estimated hoard of £60 million.

Valerio Viccei, the Italian mastermind behind the heist, was arrested as he returned to England to ship his Ferrari Testarrosa to Latin America and sentenced to 22 years.

Additional reporting by PA