 It is the morning of the 7th of November 2000, and a JCB digger has just smashed its way into the Millennium Dome Greenwich Peninsula London. This is no accident, the driver is wearing body armour and a gas mask, and he has brought some friends with him. What's unfolding is a diamond heist. The Millennium Dome, although as some consider a white elephant, is the home to some pretty valuable diamonds for an exhibition. The men set about attacking the thick protective glass with a nail gun and sledgehammers, but they are being watched. My name is John and today we are looking at the Brazen Millennium Dome Heist. Oh, and I went on a bit of a B-roll rampage, so there is a link in the description for all the extra footage I filmed. London's White Elephant So it's towards the end of the 1990s, and the fear and excitement of the Millennium is quickly approaching. Planes might fall out of the sky, and nuclear missiles might go off. All pretty scary. Well, here in Blighty, in hometown South London, the Tory, and then later new Labour Government, set about building the 9th largest building, by usable space in the world. The concept was scraped out of the brains of the members of the major government, as a sort of world's fair. The project was engorged from 1997, when this guy got into the helm of British politics. Tony Blair had got in on the 2nd of May 1997, and construction on what would become known as the Millennium Dome began in June the same year. The project was intended to wow the world in celebrating the turn of the Millennium. The dome opened rather aptly on the 31st of December 1999, and would be open for just one year. I remember as a young John, and family plainly, all being bundled into my dad's voxel cavalier, chugging along the A2 to see the dome in the canvas flesh. Actually was the dome canvas? I don't know, it just kind of looks a bit like a tent. Anywho, in order to wow the world, the dome would be crammed for the exciting exhibits, one of which would be some sparkly diamonds. These were supplied by De Beers, and featured a flawless 203.04 carat gem, with an estimated worth of £200 million in Millennium money. It was thought to be the most flawless in the world, and was rather aptly named the Millennium Star. Needed to say, this piece would attract some criminal attention. De Beers had thought of this, and had set up protection, that not only stopped the robbers, but allowed the public to view the precious stones closely. They were placed behind Bonproof glass, reportedly able to resist a 60 tonne battering ram. The dome itself was also fenced off, as the year 2000 moved on, hundreds of thousands attended the exhibition, gawping at the precious stones. I should say that they were part of an exhibit called the Money Zone, but it was just one area out of several within the dome, which each had its different theme, for example religion, the body and work etc. As a side note, the dome experience even had its own Blackadder short film, although not as good as Blackadder goes forth, it's still pretty much well worth a watch. As it wouldn't be all fun and learning, the dome would be under the sights of a criminal element. A tip off to a big heist. It is the summer of the year 2000, and the police's flying squad, yes that is actually part of the Metropolitan Police, have received a tip off about a big raid on the horizon, but they don't know where. The tip off does involve some names and links back to an attempted robbery in February 2000. This took place in south west London in an area called Nine Elms. The robbers had targeted an armoured money van. They blocked off the van's escape routes along the Nine Elms lane and a plan to bash open the van's doors by using a battering ram welded to the front of a lorry. The plan however was foiled and the robbers escaped via the Thames on an inflatable boat. A similar heist was attempted in Ellsford just near Chatham, around here on a kentish map in July. It too was fought when a random police car arrived after the lorry had broken the armoured car's doors. The men shot at the police and escaped once again on an inflatable boat. Clearly the gang were capable of at least attempting a pretty sophisticated heist, and they definitely weren't afraid to use force. This brings us back to the summer and the flying squad's predicament of how to find what their next hit would be. Well forensic analysis of the abandoned lorries allowed Kent police to trace the vehicles to two disused farms in Kent. These farms were put under 24 hour surveillance. Another tip came in from an informer hinting that the gang were looking for a big, big payday by hitting the dome. The surveillance and apprehension of the gang would be called Operation Magician. With this knowledge they placed surveillance at the dome on top of the already established security. On the 1st of September, surveillance identified three of the suspected gang members at the dome. They were taking notes on the tide at the Greenwich Peninsula using video camcorders to film security entrances and to look at the CCTV cameras. If it wasn't 100% certain the dome was a target before now, they knew it was. Surveillance increased again during which more gang members were observed filming the river. Gang members were being spotted at the dome in an ever increasing frequency. On top of this, down in Kent, a gang member was observed procuring a speedboat. The heist seemed by at least the end of September was pretty close. The valuable diamonds were replaced with fakes, which means if you went there towards the end of September and saw the diamonds, you weren't actually looking at the real thing. A false wall was constructed inside the exhibition room, which behind had a small army of police officers ready to pounce at a moment's notice. As October rolled in, the police had identified some potentially ideal days for the heist to go ahead. And lo and behold, on these days the gang attempted twice, but each time abandoned their attack, the first due to the speedboat having mechanical issues and the second was aborted due to low tide. The next time they attempted the heist, the gang were going to see it through, and the police thought it would come the day after their second failed attempt, the 7th of November, the year 2000. The heist It is the early hours of the 7th of November and over 200 police have been deployed around the Millennium Dome and surrounding areas, of which half were armed. They were laying in wait for the criminal gang to make an attempt on the diamonds. The police were placed along the Thames and at various points about the peninsula. All staff in the money zone were replaced with police disguised as guards, cleaners and even tour guides. At roughly 9.30 in the morning, the heist began. A JCB digger was spotted battering its way through the perimeter fence of the dome complex and heading straight for the main building. There were 4 men inside the JCB armed with nail guns, smoke bombs, ballistic vests and gas masks. The JCB smashed its way through the side of the dome and crashed into the money zone. The gang set off their smoke bombs and started firing the nail gun at the thick protective glass. The glass now weakened was attacked with sledgehammers. The gang as far as they knew were within inches of the prize, but we know the diamonds were fake and the police were there waiting to make their move. In a matter of seconds after smashing through the glass, the order was sent out to the police and the 4 gang members found themselves looking down the barrels of multiple police firearm. The man in the speedboat and the other man in the van and another across the river monitoring police frequencies were also apprehended almost immediately. The heist was over, the men were arrested and amazingly not a single shot was fired. The arrested gang members were sent to different police stations throughout south London to be held for questioning and later on in the day, Kent police collared 6 more suspects. The trial for the gang was found that they had invested significantly in the heist, somewhere in the region of £20,000 in purchasing the required equipment and hiring a lookup in Plumstead to store it. The sentences varied from the 7 main suspects from 5 years to 18, although those who got the higher end of the sentences got them reduced later on down to 15 years. One of the defendants had died between a rest and trial of cancer. The JCB was sold off at auction for spare parts after the manufacturer took ownership from the insurance company. Police lead John Shatford came under a little bit of criticism for letting the heist go into the smashing stage, said in response. Our chief concern throughout was public safety. We decided it was better to let the robbers get into the vault where they were effectively imprisoned. So what of the dome? Well it would actually open later on in the day, albeit with the money zone understandably closed. The dome, closed fully as planned in December 2000 but no one else knew what to do with it afterwards. Items from the exhibition were auctioned off in 2001 and after the site being sold off would eventually turn into the London Oto Arena in 2007. So I'm going to give this event a 4 on the legacy scale. Possibly a little bit more if you live in London and possibly a little bit less if you don't. 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