London ( CNN ) The Hatton Garden heist , as it will surely come to be known , was every safe deposit box holder 's nightmare , every movie director 's dream . Thieves using heavy cutting equipment and rappelling gear broke into the vault of an esteemed 60-year-old safe deposit company in the heart of London over the past holiday weekend , possibly taking advantage of as many as four days to rifle through an uncounted number of safe deposit boxes . And they reportedly got away with hundreds of thousands of pounds worth of gems and cash -- even , in the educated guess of one former police official , as much as 200 million pounds , or $ 300 million . Police were offering few details Wednesday of the robbery at Hatton Garden Safe Deposit Ltd. Detectives on the scene were carrying out a `` slow and painstaking '' forensic examination , police said in a statement . `` Officers anticipate the process to take approximately two days , '' the statement said . `` At this stage it is believed that approximately 60-70 safe deposit boxes were opened during the burglary . Officers are working closely with Hatton Garden Safe Deposit Ltd to establish the identities of those affected . Police will be contacting victims directly as and when they are identified . '' WATCH : Top five jewelry heists . Throughout the day Wednesday , customers of the business went in and out of the premises , clearly unhappy about not being able to learn whether their boxes were among those ransacked . Hatton Garden is a storied area in London and the heart of the city 's diamond trade . The area 's promotional website says it is home to `` the largest and most concentrated cluster of jewellery retailers in the UK '' and has been for quite some time . `` History tells us that the old City of London had certain streets -- or quarters -- dedicated to specific types of business , '' the website says . `` The Hatton Garden area has been the epicentre of London 's jewellery trade since medieval times . `` Today , it maintains its international reputation as the centre of London 's diamond trade . It is one of the finest and most renowned jewellery locations in the world . '' $ 4.8M in gold swiped from N.C. highway . But how ? The police statement did not put a value on the amount of the haul . But numerous British news organizations put the figure in the hundreds of thousands of pounds , which translates into even more hundreds of thousands of dollars . Many of those who rent safe deposit boxes at the company are reportedly in the jewelry trade . But Roy Ramm , a former chief of the Flying Squad , an economic crime unit of London 's Metropolitan Police Service , came up with a much higher guess . `` I would not be surprised , given where this one is , in Hatton Garden , if 200 million pounds is around about the amount stolen , '' Ramm said on BBC Radio 4 . Because of the long Easter weekend , police did not hear of the robbery until Tuesday morning . This may prove to be an embarrassment , as the Telegraph newspaper reported that the alarm at the business sounded Friday but , as the front and back doors still appeared locked , no action was taken . The website of Hatton Garden Safe Deposit Ltd. says the company was founded in 1954 and offers a `` secure and cost-effective solution to store and protect important and irreplaceable personal belongings . '' Robbers target security vans in France jewel heist .
Robbers may have taken advantage of a four-day holiday weekend . The robbers were armed with handguns and machetes but no one was injured in the attack on Saturday night at an apartment complex near the city centre.