Real Life News

LONDON, England -- Police foiled an attempt by robbers using a speedboat and bulldozer to snatch the biggest haul of diamonds from the Millennium Dome.

Armed elite flying squad officers ambushed the audacious thieves at the London landmark on Tuesday in their attempt to steal £350 million ($507 million) worth of De Beers diamonds, including the unique Millennium Star, worth £150 million alone.

The thieves used a bulldozer to smash through the tourist site gates and had a speedboat ready to whisk them away in James Bond-style along the River Thames.

The heist would have been the biggest in the world, if it had been carried out successfully.

But police, acting on intelligence, had been waiting for them as part of a surveillance operation lasting months and arrested four in the Dome's vaults and two near the getaway speedboat.

Police said another five people had been arrested in southeast England.

Little did the thieves realise that their efforts would have been in vain as police had taken precautionary action and switched the real diamonds for glass fakes on Monday.

"If this robbery had been carried out in accordance with the thieves' wishes, this would have been the largest robbery in the world," said Detective Superintendent Jon Shatford, who led 100 police officers in the operation. 'Diamonds are safe'

The De Beers' owned diamond display includes the flawless Millennium Star -- a 203-carat pear-shaped diamond that was discovered in the early 1990s in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The giant gem appeared in the exhibition with 11 vividly blue diamonds in an array of shapes and sizes from five to 27 carats.

"We knew that the suspects were going to do this," De Beers spokesman Andy Bone said, adding: "The diamonds are safe."

Shatford said that specialist fire arms officers were in place to make sure that the area was safe and that the heist would be foiled.

"Inquiries will continue throughout the rest of the day," he said

The Dome's operator said the incident happened before opening time, and it was not interrupting the day's business.