Twelve addresses were raided by police officers in the London and Kent area. The seven men, aged between 48 and 75 were taken into custody; and police recovered a significant amount of high-value goods.
As for the victims of crime, it's thought to include Britain's most notorious criminal gangs, the London-based Adams family. The gang and their associates are believed to have had several valuables stored at Hatton Garden Safe Deposit Limited vaults. Bosses, Terry and Tommy Adams, are said to be furious that the thieves stole from their 'manor'.
The contents of 56 safe deposit boxes are now in the hands of Scotland Yard.
Meanwhile, the former head of Scotland Yard's robbery unit has labeled the police handling of the heist as "utterly incompetent" after it emerged that they didn't respond to an automatic alarm which went off in the early hours of Good Friday — the day of the heist.
Speaking following the arrests and in response to questions about why the police did not respond, Detective Superintendent Turner said:
"We are now in a position to confirm that on this occasion our call handling system and procedures for working with the alarm monitoring companies were not followed. Our normal procedures would have resulted in police attending the scene and we apologize that this did not happen."
