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Detectives hunting the Mayfair jewel raiders have offered a massive £1million reward for information on what was Britain's biggest gems heist.
The officer investigating the raid said they would offer up to the seven figure sum in a bid to catch the thieves.
Detective Chief Inspector Pam Mace, head of Barnes Flying Squad, said: "I think this is the biggest reward that has ever been offered for a crime of this type."
The reward, of up to £1 million, for information leading to the identification, arrest and prosecution of those responsible and the recovery of the stolen property is being offered by Tyler and Company on behalf of interested insurers.
Ms Mace added: "I'm directing my appeal at people, and that includes criminal associates, who know who these robbers are and where they are. We continue to actively pursue a number of lines of inquiry."
The announcement came just hours after Scotland Yard announced they had found a loaded gun in a dramatic breakthrough in the case.
Details of the find emerged as police issued an urgent appeal to trace two getaway cars used in the £40million robbery.
A silver Mercedes and a blue VW Sharan were used in an elaborate escape plan following the raid on Graff Diamonds.
Police believe they would have been abandoned afterwards but they have yet to be found.
Both cars are known to have been "cloned" by the gang, using number plates stolen from legitimate motorists.
Scotland Yard issued the registration numbers of the cars today and appealed for anyone who may have seen the vehicles to contact them.
The number of the B-Class Mercedes is LV06 HFA and the Sharan has the plate RA07 XEV.
Police said the loaded gun was not one of the two handguns used by the smartly dressed robbers to fire warning shots during the raid.
They refused to say where it had been found but one possibility is that it was abandoned by the robbers in a third getaway car.
The raiders escaped initially in a blue BMW but it crashed into a taxi in Stafford Street, where they dumped it and got into the Mercedes.
The weapon was being examined by ballistic experts today to check if it had been fired.
Detective Chief Inspector Pam Mace said: "We have recovered a loaded firearm that is connected to this incident.
Several lines of inquiry are ongoing but I am happy with the way it is progressing."
Police sources say the gang left a trail of clues as they fled.
Detectives hope they will gain crucial information from the Charles Fox make-up studio in Covent Garden, where the two robbers went to get latex disguises just hours before the robbery.
While there, the men tried on two custom-built masks and forensic experts are now examining them for traces of DNA.
Other items such as hairbrushes and even the bank notes they used to pay for the session are also being examined. A motorcycle used as part of the getaway was found abandoned in Berkeley Square.
However, insiders also say that, so far, the gang has proved meticulous in its planning.
Detectives believe the pair who carried out the robbery were part of a much larger gang and one possibility is that they were brought in especially because they are not known to police and their DNA will not be registered on police databases.
Police arrested and questioned a 50-year-old man in Ilford on Monday in connection with the robbery.
They suspect that the man, who has been released on bail, may have been involved in planning the raid, although he was not in the West End when it happened.
Officers have also searched at least three properties in a series of raids across London and the South-East.
But experts believe the exquisite stones, including a yellow diamond flower necklace, were smuggled out of the country within hours of the robbery last Thursday.
One theory is the gang fled the country by speedboat soon after the raid.
Flying Squad detectives are liaising with Interpol and examining possible links with Eastern European gangs.
Reader views (7)
the ransom is being offered by tyler and company on behalf of interested insurers, not the police! please read the article properly before having a rant about using public money to locate the robbers.
- Isabel, london, 15/08/2009 16:28
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So none of the thousands of CCTV and traffic cameras in London caught their movements after they left. Amazing they swoop on people dropping sweet wrappers.
- Jack, Surrey, England, 15/08/2009 16:26
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i take it that some one does have to monitor these mails, can i ask why it is always seems to 'presumed' that an East European gang is involved, i cannot get it into my head that these supposed'east european gangs are so sophisticated, Personally i could not give a toss about what was 'actually' stolen, but the sheer affront of it has got my goat, surely in this age of the computer no one can move without proper documentation, i will now go and look at one of my old passports and see how easy/hard it is to remove the photo, will keep you informed.
- David, N.London, 14/08/2009 22:29
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Although i commented earlier i di d not read the story and only read the strap and the first few lines, but after having my interest piqued (it was obviously the £1,oooooo reward) i read further and you tell me reg numbers of cars plus dna on masks and to cap it all villians going to and thro in speed boats across the channel.I hope the girl who got threatened by the robbers gets over it,i have been threatened by gunmen on 4 occasions and every time to my shame it has made me freeze, the fist time in benidorm 1977 my first boys holiday abroad, the concierge in the hotel became rather agitated and pulled a pistol out of no where, the 2nd time,well i am going to leave it there , after all i aint getting paid for this
- David, N.London, 14/08/2009 21:58
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when you say detectives are offering £1 million reward, if this is the case would it not be more enlightening to say the taxpayer is offering a £1 million reward to catch thieves who stole from a private company, surely the million pounds would be better spent on policing,As for the cash amount of jewellery stolen are we looking at the retail price, and if this is the case then i suggest you divide that by at least 3 to get the actual cost of 'Gems'. Being in the trade myself i think the actual cost to the jeweller was probably in the region of two million, who is the mug the insurer or the punter?
- David, N.London, 14/08/2009 21:26
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EDITED by admin @ 16.07 on August 14 2009
Court Proceedings
- Rod, Epping, UK, 14/08/2009 15:36
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EDITED by admin @ 12.23 on August 14 2009
Breach of Community Guidelines
- Robert Jackson, London, London, 14/08/2009 11:18
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