Three robbers slipped away with nearly $400,000 worth of jewelry - including brooches and a tiara - from one of London's most exclusive jewelers Sunday.
A large section of the West End shopping district was sealed off for five hours while more than 70 officers, apparently not realizing the robbers had fled, surrounded Garrard's jewelers.Buses and cars were left abandoned in the middle of Regent Street during the siege.
One of the thieves, dressed as a policeman and armed with a handgun, followed two Garrard's security guards into the back entrance Sunday morning, and then let in two accomplices, Detective Chief Inspector Colin Harry said.
The guards were bound and blindfolded, and the robbers took their keys and grabbed jewelry from a safe, then escaped in a station wagon, Harry said.
He said the raid took no more than 15 minutes.
The security guards freed themselves and sounded the alarm.
Richard Jarvis, managing director of Garrard's, said the vaults had not been breached. "I think we did get off lightly," he said.