Police hail have-a-go heroes in store raid

MEMBERS of the public who tackled members of a burkha-clad armed gang as they fled from a raid on Selfridges department store have been praised by police.
The scene of a smash and grab robbery in Selfridges, Oxford Street, London.The scene of a smash and grab robbery in Selfridges, Oxford Street, London.
The scene of a smash and grab robbery in Selfridges, Oxford Street, London.

Two members of the axe-wielding group who struck in Oxford Street in central London on Thursday night were held by pedestrians as they made their getaway by moped, Scotland Yard said.

One is being questioned in a central London police station and the other is in hospital being treated for a suspected broken leg after they crashed going round a corner and were pinned down by people nearby.

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Detective Chief Inspector Andy Noyes, from the Metropolitan Police’s Flying Squad, said it had been a brazen and well-planned robbery on the busy store. “Fortunately no-one was injured. The store was very busy and this will have been a shocking thing for people to witness,” he said.

Police, medics and passers-by around a man who came off a moped at the corner of Goodge Street and Charlotte Street, London who along with another man were apprehended by police shortly after a raid at Selfridges.Police, medics and passers-by around a man who came off a moped at the corner of Goodge Street and Charlotte Street, London who along with another man were apprehended by police shortly after a raid at Selfridges.
Police, medics and passers-by around a man who came off a moped at the corner of Goodge Street and Charlotte Street, London who along with another man were apprehended by police shortly after a raid at Selfridges.

Armed police were sent to the scene after a gang wielding axes smashed cabinets to get at items.

The Metropolitan Police said yesterday that all six men who went into the busy store were wearing burkhas and they stole a number of expensive watches before making off on motorcycles ridden by accomplices.

Two motorbikes, believed to have been used in the gang’s getaway, have been recovered by police in the Paddington area of the capital.

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The drama was witnessed by people who were in the area at the time, with many taking to Twitter to describe what they saw.

Matthew Carrozo, 28, from east London, said he saw two men being apprehended by police shortly after the raid.

He was having a drink with a friend outside a pub at the corner of Goodge Street and Charlotte Street when he heard the sound of a moped crashing.

He saw a man run out from a nearby pizza restaurant and pin down one of the two people who were riding on the vehicle.

“Someone noticed a bag had fallen off the moped and that it had opened and a bunch a watches fell out,” he said. “The duffle bag was full of watches and jewellery.”