UK police failed to act on alarm in £200m raid

Police were alerted to an intruder alarm at the scene of a £200m safety deposit raid in Britain — but decided it did not require response.

Up to £200 million (€276m) worth of items are thought to have been taken in the raid on a security box vault in London’s jewellery quarter on Good Friday.

Scotland Yard said an investigation was launched into why a call from an alarm firm was given a grade that “meant that no police response was required”.

The Met Police’s Central Communications Command received a call at 12.21am on Good Friday stating an alarm had gone off at Hatton Garden Safety Deposit Company. Scotland Yard said in a statement: “On Friday, 3 April at 00:21hrs a call was received at the MPS Central Communications Command (MetCC) from Southern Monitoring Alarm Company. The call stated that a confirmed intruder alarm had been activated at the Hatton Garden Safe Deposit.

“The call was transferred to the police computer aided despatch system. A grade was applied to the call that meant no police response was deemed required. We are investigating why this grade was applied to the call.”

The thieves disabled a lift shaft and climbed down to the basement before using power tools to break into the vault. Inside, they opened up to 70 safety deposit boxes.

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