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Three charged over $65M jewelry heist

  • Story Highlights
  • Three men arrested this week charged over robbery targeting jewelry store
  • Trio accused of conspiring with others to rob store in Mayfair district
  • Some $65 million in merchandise was stolen in UK's largest-ever jewelry heist
  • Suited robbers threatened staff with handguns in afternoon raid, police say
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LONDON, England (CNN) -- London police have charged a third man in connection with Britain's largest-ever jewelry heist, they said Friday.

Clinton Mogg, 42, of Bournemouth, England, was charged with conspiracy to rob the Graff jewelry store in London's Mayfair neighborhood August 6, London's Metropolitan Police Service said.

Mogg was scheduled to appear in court Saturday, police said.

Two other men arrested in the case were charged Friday with conspiracy to commit robbery and possessing a handgun, police said.

Solomun Beyene, 24, of London, and Craig Calderwood, 26, who has no fixed address, appeared in court Friday. They were ordered held until their next court appearance Sept. 1, the court said.

It is not clear if Beyene and Calderwood are the two men seen in surveillance camera footage carrying out the robbery. Police said that determination would be made by a jury.

A fourth man, aged 50, was arrested in the case last week but is free on bail, police said.

Some $65 million in merchandise was stolen in the heist, in which men dressed in suits and ties walked into Graff jewelry store on New Bond Street late in the afternoon and threatened employees with handguns, police said.

The thieves took 43 items including rings, bracelets, necklaces and watches in what police said was the largest jewelry robbery ever carried out in Britain.

The robbers left in a blue BMW, which they abandoned nearby. They switched to a silver Mercedes, then to a black vehicle, possibly a Ford or Volkswagen, police said.

Police described one of the robbers as white, about 30 years old and 5 feet 10 inches to 6 feet tall. The second is a black man believed to be in his 30s with short hair. Both men are thought to have spoken with London accents, police said.

The robbery was the latest in a spate of daytime thefts at jewelry stores and designer shops in the exclusive Bond Street shopping area in Mayfair, which includes New Bond Street.

Groups of men or teenagers typically stage "smash and grab" robberies, in which they break the windows and steal anything they can get their hands on before speeding away in waiting cars or motorbikes.

The thieves strike during the day, when stores' security systems are typically disarmed, even though the store and sidewalk may be crowded with people.

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