On August 6th 2009, two well dressed man walked into Graff jewellers at New Bond Street (London) as normal customers. Little did the staff knew that these men were more than the usual customers. The men had handguns, with which they used to threaten the staff, picked up multiple pieces of jewelry and got away with 43 pieces of jewelry worth £40 million ($79 million). The worth, makes it the 2nd largest robbery and largest gem robbery in Britain.

It is reported that the heist was very well planned - they dragged one female staff with them, fired shots in the ground to make sure no one follows and changed from a blue BMW to a silver Mercedes to possibly a a black Ford Galaxy or Volkswagen Sharan. The loot is supposed to have been handed over to a guy on a motorcycle.

The men - both in their 30s with London accents - are thought to have passed the stolen jewellery to a waiting motorcyclist, who made a quick getaway. At least two other men were acting as getaway drivers in three cars, police believe.

Detective Chief Inspector Pam Mace, of London's Metropolitan Police flying squad, said it had been a well-planned robbery with a number of vehicles used to help the robbers escape.

Police believe the robbers are likely to have organised an escape route out of the country and may already have left Britain.

Source: www.theage.com.au

The first suspect is described as white, about 30 years old, slim and between 5ft 10ins and 6ft tall.

The other man is described as black, in his 30s, 6ft tall, more well- built than the first suspect, with very short hair.

Source: news.bbc.co.uk

A passerby recorded part of getaway.

The loot included - a pair of white, round, diamond double-hoop earrings, a yellow diamond flower necklace, a platinum white Marquise diamond ring and a Chronograph men's 45mm watch.

This isn't the first time Graff Jewelry stores have been targeted by robbers.

Jewellery worth an estimated £23m was stolen in a raid in 2003 when two Serbs armed with a revolver held up staff.

And in 2007 jewellery worth as much as £10m was taken from a branch of Graff Diamonds in Sloane Street in central London by two men posing as customers.

Source: news.bbc.co.uk

Makes you wonder, couldn't they have better security at these stores? Or they do know that the insurance will pay off the damages, so it doesn't really matter?

The robbers knew that they will be on CCTV, so most probably they will go underground for a long period of time or even go for facial reconstruction surgery.

I wonder if the robbers will share the same fate as him or they are even smarter?