London - British police have released photographs of the chaotic scene that greeted staff at a London vault after it was ransacked by thieves in a raid that bore striking similarities to a heist near Berlin in 2013.
The images reveal a hole drilled through the 50-centimetre reinforced concrete wall of the underground vault in London's Hatton Garden, in the city's diamond quarter.
Other images show piles of dust-covered safety-deposit boxes with their lids crow-barred open and contents emptied and a safety door with its bars cut.
Tools including angle-grinders, concrete drills and crowbars were left at the scene in a theft believed to have yielded tens of millions of pounds worth of gems.
British media have reported that as much as £200 million ($300 million) in diamonds, other jewels and cash were taken.
The thieves are believed to have used a diamond-tipped “Hilti” coring drill to bore through the wall, drawing comparisons to a 2013 heist at the Volksbank vault near Berlin, in which thieves stole diamonds, gold and silver from 294 deposit boxes.
In both cases, the criminals disguised themselves as workmen and insider help is suspected.
CCTV footage obtained by London police revealed that the thieves were in the vault throughout the night of Friday April 3, despite a burglar alarm being tripped at around midnight.
Police launched an internal investigation after admitting they failed to follow up on the alarm.
The gang re-entered the vault on Saturday night, finally leaving at 6.30am on Sunday.
Detectives found no sign of forced entry into the main building, and believe that the thieves climbed down a lift shaft to reach the basement vault.
Once inside, they broke into 72 safety deposit boxes.
Media reports suggest the criminal gang may have hidden inside the building on Thursday, only emerging after staff went home, although the crime was only discovered on Tuesday after the Easter holiday.
Scotland Yard's Flying Squad, which investigates heists, has not confirmed the value of the burglary.
AFP