A £20,000 GEM ROBBERY.

Dunstan Times, Issue 3133, 4 September 1922, Page 8

A £20,000 GEM ROBBERY.

A largo quantity of jewellery and valuable metal. valued at between 1 10,000 and £20,000, was stolen from a London West-end building during the week-end at the end of dune. Two safes were forced by means of oxy-aety-lene plant; the windows of the premises were covered with canvas, and a. ''tent" of oilcloth Mas made over the safe to hide the flame of the gas. A handcart had to be obtained to carryaway the apparatus used after the discovery of the robbery. A reward of £2OOO has been offered for tho discovery of the perpetrators. Diamonds, mounted and unmounted, form the greater part of the booty, but other jewellery in process of manufacture, including pearls and emeralds, was stolen, and a comparatively large quantity of platinum was removed by the thieves.

Amassing coolness and ingenuity marked the robbery. Three large iron cylinders, which had contained oxyacetylene gas, were found on the premises, and several men must have been concerned in the difficult task of conveying these to the second floor, where the two burst safes were found. In one case the whole panel of one of the safes' had been burnt away by the powerful flame. A third sate, however, had apparently defied the thieves. For it remained unopened. Thick rubber piping was found, together with rolls of canvas and a wooden framework, used presumably to form a, screen with which to hide the intense glare of the blowpipes. Several hours must have elapsed while the men were occupied in opening the safe, apart from the time used in. preliminary preparations. One of the safes was four inches thick.