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The Millennium Dome raid was an attempted robbery of the Millennium Dome's diamond exhibition in Greenwich, South East London occurring on November 7, 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 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.〔(【引用サイトリンク】url=http://www.crimeandinvestigation.co.uk/crime-files/millennium-dome-heist/crime.html )〕 The attempted robbery was foiled by the Flying Squad of the Metropolitan Police Service, 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.〔(【引用サイトリンク】url=http://www.crimeandinvestigation.co.uk/crime-files/millennium-dome-heist/crime.html )〕 ==Operation Magician== 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. It was attempted again on 7 July in Aylesford, Kent. This time, the gang got even closer to the cash, with the metal spike being rammed into the van. They were seconds from taking the money when an unexpected police car appeared; the gang shot at the approaching car and again made their escape in an inflatable speedboat. Detective Superintendent John Shatford stated that this attempted robbery brought to his attention a gang which was capable of carrying out a robbery with this level of planning. Fifteen months after this attempted robbery, there was another case where a gang tried to pull off another robbery using similar techniques. This unsuccessful attack provided the police with important clues and led them to track some of the vehicles that were used in the raid to two isolated farms in rural Kent; these properties were then put under 24-hour surveillance. After this unsuccessful robbery the police received a tip-off about the Dome raid from an informer. At a meeting between detectives to discuss the Nine Elms Lane attempted robbery and the information that the informer had provided about the Dome raid, one detective who had recently visited the dome quipped, "Maybe they are after the Millennium jewels?" It was this comment that led to beginning an investigation into the raid. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Millennium Dome raid」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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