Police 'took wife's £100,000 jewels' in safe deposit raid

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Andreas Hofer put the items in the deposit under instructions from his insurers.

But when police raided seven safe deposit branches in London on Monday in a crackdown on organised crime, Mr Hofer discovered his wife's jewellery had also been seized.

He said: "They raided safe deposits boxes irrespective of who the owner was - they just broke everything open and took the stuff.

"Innocent people were robbed by the police. When we called them they wanted us to produce invoices to show we are the legitimate owners.

"But most of it has been given by family members over the years and we do not have invoices."

Mr Hofer, 48, a freelance journalist, lives with his wife Elizabeth in Hampstead.

He added: "This country is drifting into a police state, and this is just another example."

The money-laundering investigation, codenamed Operation Rize, is understood to have recovered a huge amount of stolen jewellery, paintings and cash. But officers conceded some innocent people had been caught up.

A spokesman for Scotland Yard said: "Officers are making legitimate inquiries into the provenance of this material. If the gentleman has concerns he is free to raise it with the officers."