Jewels worth tens of thousands of pounds stolen in Westfield Centre raid

Jewel thieves targeted Europe's largest urban shopping mall in a smash and grab raid early this morning. A gang of up to 10 people burst into the Westfield Centre in Shepherd's Bush, west London, using sledgehammers. They raided branches of De Beers and Tiffany & Co, making off with goods worth tens of thousands of pounds. Security guards and police were alerted by electronic alarms, but the gang got away in cars at about 1.20am. No arrests have been made and nobody was injured. It was the first such raid at the £1.7bn complex, which opened in 2008 and is home to more than 250 retailers, and follows a series of attacks on exclusive jewellers and luxury goods stores across London. Valuables worth up to £4m have been stolen, with gangs of thieves, often armed with heavy tools and riding stolen mopeds, targeting stores including Watches of Switzerland, Cartier, Dolce & Gabbana and Tiffany and Co. In one raid on the Mozafarian store, in Knightsbridge, last August, gems worth more than £1m were stolen in less than a minute. The Westfield Centre pays for its own private security staff and police teams under an agreement with Hammersmith and Fulham council. Senior officers were so concerned about the potential crime rate at the 43-acre centre that they agreed to build extra police cells before it opened. A Metropolitan police spokesman said officers were alerted to a "burglary in progress" at 1.20am. He said: "A group of up to 10 people forced access to the premises before breaking into two jewellery shops and making off with a quantity of goods." A Westfield spokeswoman said a "quantity of jewellery" had been stolen, adding that the centre would be open as normal today. The spokeswoman added: "Westfield is working closely with the Metropolitan police to identify suspects and recover property. "No one was injured during the incident, which took place whilst the shopping centre was closed. Our on-site security staff responded immediately, as did the local police."