Millennium Dome raid
| Millennium Dome Raid | |
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| Location | Drawdock Road / Millennium Way, Greenwich Peninsula, London SE10 0BB, England |
| Date | 7 November 2000 |
| Target | De Beers Diamond Exhibition |
| Perpetrators | Lee Wenham Raymond Betson William Cockram Terry Millman Aldo Ciarrocchi Robert Adams Kevin Meredith |
The Millennium Dome raid was an attempted robbery of the Millennium Dome's diamond exhibition in Greenwich, South East London occurring on 7 November 2000. A local gang planned to ram-raid the De Beers diamond exhibition which was being held in the dome at the time. The gang had then planned to escape via the Thames in a speedboat. The De Beers diamond exhibition had a number of jewels on display including the Millennium Star, a flawless 203.04 carats (40.608 g) gem with an estimated worth of £200 million and considered one of the most perfect gems in the world. Also on display were priceless blue diamonds. The attempted robbery was foiled by the Flying Squad of the Metropolitan Police Service, as a result of information from Kent Police Serious Crime who already had the gang members under surveillance for their suspected roles in a number of unsuccessful armoured vehicle robberies. The operation to foil the robbery was the biggest operation undertaken in the Flying Squad's history and at trial the judge in the case commended the way it was carried out.
If the heist had succeeded, then with a haul of £350 million worth of diamonds, it would have become the biggest robbery in history at the time.
In the summer of 2000, the Flying Squad became aware of a major armed robbery plot after a tip-off was received. The location of this robbery was unclear, but the identities of some of the robbers were known to the police. The police spent a number of months developing intelligence on the plot and set up an operation that they codenamed Operation Magician. During the intelligence gathering the location of the robbery was found to be the Millennium Dome in Greenwich.
In February 2000, armed men tried to pull off a £10 million raid on a security van in Nine Elms, South London. The gunmen had stopped the security lorry by blocking off both ends of Nine Elms Lane. They had planned to use their own lorry, which was carrying Christmas trees, as a battering ram. This lorry had a huge metal spike welded into the chassis and covered by the foliage. The gang planned to split the security lorry's rear doors with the ram. The gang's plan failed when a motorist who was late for work removed the keys from the ignition of the unattended Christmas tree van. The robbers, left with no choice, made their escape in an inflatable speedboat towards Chelsea.
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