Three holdalls containing 1m in cash found by police in organised crime raids

Police searching three London safe deposit box centres have discovered three holdalls containing up to £1 million in cash, it was revealed today.

The centres in Park Lane, Hampstead and Edgware- are believed to contain millions of pounds worth of cash, drugs and guns banked by criminals.

Armed police swooped on the centres yesterday and began searching up to 7,000 security boxes.

Today police revealed that they had uncovered the holdalls packed with £50 notes in a single safe deposit box at the Park Lane centre.

One detective said: 'We haven’t started counting it yet but it looks like at least several hundred thousand, if not more.'

At the Finchley site, police have begun opening the boxes with the help of staff and say they are uncovering an average of £50,000 to £70,000 worth of cash and jewellery in each box.

Sniffer dogs have been brought in and have detected what is believed to be quantities of cash, drugs and guns in dozens of the boxes.

Estimates vary but it is believed that the security boxes could contain a total of more than a £1 billion in illegal booty. Many of the boxes will need to be removed and taken to another secure location to be drilled open by police.

Armed officers are patrolling the sites today in case a gang tries to mount a  raid to recover their property.

The swoop by Scotland Yard’s Specialist Crime Directorate is a massive blow to Britain’s top-tier criminals.

Raid: Police officers close Park Street in Mayfair before raiding Park Lane Safe Deposit in connection with suspected money laundering operations

An armed police officer keeps watch outside the entrance to the Park Lane Safe Deposit

Sniffer dogs: Police dog handlers enter Park Lane Safe Deposit

Gangsters are thought to have used the company Safe Deposit Centres Ltd to hide away millions of pounds.

Each of the boxes is being treated as a crime scene in its own right. Officers say it will take several days to search them all.

Police believe they will provide links to almost every major criminal activity in Britain - ranging from shootings and drug trafficking to murder, fraud and paedophile gangs.

Two directors of the firm were arrested yesterday. They are Jacqueline Swann, 44 - who was held at the Mayfair address in Park Street, just off Park Lane, and Leslie Sieff, 60 -who was detained in Hampstead.

A third director, Milton Woolf, 52, is believed to have been abroad.

Both men are originally from South Africa but have been residents in Britain since the Eighties.

Detectives began investigating the firm two years ago when it emerged that they may be leasing security boxes to gangsters.

Vaults: Police seized thousands of safe deposit boxes from three vaults after receiving intelligence they were used by criminals

The inquiry is being run as a money-laundering operation but police believe it could spread much wider.

There were also raids on the private homes of the three directors in London and Hertfordshire.

The Met’s Assistant Commissioner John Yates said that intelligence from the two-year inquiry, codenamed Operation Rize, indicated that between 50 and 90 per cent of the boxes were connected to major British and International crime gangs, including drug and gun smugglers, fraudsters, people traffickers and paedophile and prostitution rings. The size of the boxes ranged from small drawers to walk-in closets.

Park Lane Safe Deposit: The boxes ranged from small drawers to walk-in closets

Mr Yates said police believed the company, which has been running for 20 years, was the only one in Britain that had failed to comply with the Proceeds Of Crime Act, which closed a legal loophole on safe deposit boxes.

The 2002 law means that the company is supposed to check the identity of people renting boxes and report any suspicious activity.

Police say many innocent people will have been caught up in the operation and have issued a freephone number - 0800 030 4613 - for people to ring to
claim back their property.

Speaking at Scotland Yard minutes after the raids began, Mr Yates said: 'This operation is a huge undertaking to tackle the criminal networks who we believe are using safe deposit facilities to hide criminal assets.'

Cordoned off: Park Lane is sealed off for the police operation

Operation Rize: A man is led away from the scene by police