By Rashid Razaq
The Evening Standard
LONDON — Thieves hurled designer watches at police as they tried to escape with a £500,000 haul.
The smash-and-grab gang stole Rolex, Tag Heuer and Chanel watches in the raid at Kingston’s Bentall Centre early today.
The six masked thieves broke into Fraser Hart Jewellers at the shopping mall using sledge hammers at about 12.30am.
They threatened a security guard who tried to intervene before speeding away on three mopeds.
The gang was seen fleeing down Dolphin Street by a CCTV operator, who alerted the police.
Squad cars and a police helicopter led the pursuit. Two of the gang were arrested in Sandy Lane, Sutton, after they crashed their moped.
Two others were arrested at about 4.30am at an address in Merton after a tip-off from a member of the public.
A number of watches have been recovered. Four men, aged 21, 26, 32 and 23, were being held at Kingston police station. Officers are still hunting the other two members of the gang.
Detective constable Ron Harvey, of the Kingston burglary squad, said: “This was an excellent Team Metropolitan Police Service effort greatly assisted by the CCTV operators and members of the public.”
Police believe the men may be linked to a larger criminal gang responsible for a series of similar raids across the capital.
Copyright 2010 Associated Newspapers Ltd.