2000: The Diamond Heist That Was Really a Trap: Police Foil a 350-Million-Pound Raid on the Millennium Dome
A seven-man gang planned to smash into the Millennium Dome's diamond exhibition, grab a haul worth 350 million pounds, and roar off down the Thames on a speedboat. It was a bold escape plan for a bold crime, but the gang never got the chance to use it.
Police had been watching for weeks. Surveillance cameras had already filmed members of the crew casing and videoing the exhibition beforehand, and on this day in 2000, a 100-strong police operation was waiting the moment they struck, ready to close in before the gang could reach the river.
Had they somehow broken through and made it to their boat, there was one final twist waiting for them: the diamonds on display that day were fakes, the real stones having already been quietly removed for safekeeping.
