UK: Biggest jewelry robbery in history

[seamusTX]

In London, last Thursday, two robbers dressed in suits and armed with handguns stole $65 million worth of jewelry from Graff jewelers on New Bond Street (one of the swankest shopping districts in the world). They escaped in a series of vehicles.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/12/world ... itain.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Handguns have been illegal in the U.K. since 1998.

I don't know why this case did not hit the news until today. British authorities have much more power to sit on information than we are used to.

I'm betting on Russian mobsters, but that is just a guess.

- Jim

[mikeintexas]

But wait, handguns are illegal in England. How could that happen?

[seamusTX]

Um, because criminals do not obey laws -- any laws that they choose to break -- and customs inspectors are not infallible.

- Jim

[mikeintexas]

Yeah, yeah, I know. But you know that some people actually believe that if guns are made illegal, then all the problems will be solved and the there be nothing but smiles and happy people.

[seamusTX]

Some people believe the earth is flat and the moon landings were faked.

- Jim

[Drewthetexan]

I don't believe that the moon landings happened. But then I was never afraid to fly until I started working in aerospace. I think if the astronauts had a "normal" understanding of what kind of deathtraps they were climbing into they'd have all run screaming. What they did back then with the technology available blows my mind.

As to the OP, sounds like something out of a movie.

[seamusTX]

If you look at the history of the astronauts, especially the early ones, they had no fear of being the first to fly an experimental government project that was built by the lowest bidder. With the space shuttle's record, you couldn't get me into it tranqued, bound, and gagged. I have to

- Jim

[Drewthetexan]

I had a chance to talk to one of the engineers at NASA after the Columbia broke apart while the shuttle fleet was grounded. They were still working on coming up with an adhesive to repair the tiles. The stuff they normally used would bubble in space as it cured. Not good for reentry!

To be honest, there was probably a certain amount of crazy they were looking for with the psych evaluations and testing they went through.