Three men jailed over £700,000 London jewellery burglary spree and tunnel attempt
Three Romanian men have been jailed after police linked them to jewellery shop burglaries across London worth more than £700,000. The investigation uncovered an attempted tunnel into a Tooting jeweller, where the men had previously stolen goods, and led to their arrest.
Police said the group targeted jewellers overnight, using tunnels to bypass security. They were caught trying to dig through a wall into Selvaraja Gold House two months after the May burglary; officers found tools and equipment, but the attempt was foiled. At Kingston Crown Court, the men pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit burglary and criminal damage. Their sentences totalled 10 years and two months: Ioan Asafeti received four years and 10 months, Sergiu Plastin three years and four months, and Laurentiu-Daniel Nitisoara two years. Police also said commercial burglaries in London had fallen by 11% over the past year.
In short
- Three men were linked to London jewellery burglaries worth over £700,000.
- Their attempted tunnel into a Tooting shop was foiled.
- They received combined sentences of 10 years and two months.
Explained simply
Jewellery shops hold high-value goods in compact spaces, making them targets for organised burglary. In London, police investigate links between separate break-ins to establish whether the same people were involved.
A tunnel can let burglars try to get into a shop without using its main entrance, though digging risks damage and can attract attention. Selvaraja Gold House is a jeweller in Tooting, south London; it had previously been burgled before an attempted tunnel into the premises was discovered.
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Originally published by Daily Mail as “Romanian gang linked to £700K burglary spree are jailed for just ten years after they were caught trying to tunnel into jewellery shop”.