Moped gang armed with knives and an axe in smash-and-grab raid on Piccadilly watch store

Machete: Witnesses saw weapons on the floor
‏@Mick7777Francis
Jamie Micklethwaite3 August 2016

Police swooped on a scooter gang armed with axes and knives after an attempted robbery on a central London luxury watch store.

Officers received a tip-off about a gang of robbers targeting the high-end Chronext shop at around 11.25am this morning and arrested them at the scene.

Shocked witnesses at the scene reported seeing a machete lying on the street with petrol leaking from the mopeds.

Maurice Joffe wrote on Facebook: "Wrong place at the wrong time. Just missed an attempted robbery on Piccadilly Street by 15 seconds.

"Four guys, two motorcycles and a machete. Police seem to have been tipped off and beat them to the ground instantly.

"Scary stuff, bikes smashed and petrol leaking all over."

A Met Police spokesman said officers arrived at the scene after the Flying Squad received intelligence on the robbery.

He added said: “Three male suspects on two scooters were arrested as they attempted to rob a jewellers on Piccadilly.

“An axe and knives were recovered from the scene.”

Foiled: The Flying Squad thwarted the armed robbery
‏@Mick7777Francis

Enquiries into the incident on the White Horse Street junction with Piccadilly are still ongoing.

Piccadilly remains closed eastbound at Hyde Park Corner while the incident is being dealt with.

A police officer was injured during the arrests and has been taken to hospital for treatment

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in