Three men admitted to digging a tunnel from a massage parlour to a jewellery store so they can attempt to steal from it.
Ioan Asafeti, 39, Laurentiu-Daniel Nitisoara, 38, and Sergiu Plastin, 42, pleaded guilty at Kingston Crown Court on Friday to conspiracy to commit burglary with intent to steal and cause criminal damage.
They were arrested by the Metropolitan Police after a wider investigation linked them to a series of burglaries worth more than £700,000.
Officers were called to reports of a suspected burglary on Mitcham Road, Tooting, south London, on July 17, and arrived at the scene 3.12am.
Body-worn footage of their arrival at the scene shows Nitisoara was arrested immediately in a nearby alleyway, while Asafeti was caught hiding on a rooftop following a search of the area, the Met Police said.
The officers at the scene also searched a massage parlour the pair had broken into, where they uncovered the group’s plan to tunnel through a wall into the neighbouring jewellery shop and found bags of tools and equipment to dig the hole, the force added.
Plastin was arrested later that day at Stansted Airport as he tried to flee to Ireland, after officers identified a car linked to the group and used mobile phone data to track him down.
The investigation, led by the Met Police’s Flying Squad, linked the group to several burglaries across London between May and July.
Detectives found the men mainly targeted jewellers ‘using tunnelling techniques to gain access to shops overnight while bypassing security systems’, the force said.
CCTV footage showing the men obtaining tools and other equipment used in the offences was recovered by officers.
And further enquiries through Interpol found the group had possible links to similar offences in Europe, the force said.
Detective Superintendent Dan Mitchell, of the Met Police’s Flying Squad, said: ‘These criminals dug their own hole after emergency response officers caught them red-handed.
‘Their arrests didn’t just stop this burglary. They formed part of a wider Flying Squad investigation that uncovered an organised crime group linked to a string of jewellery shop break-ins across London worth more than £700,000.
‘We’re driving down commercial burglary across the capital, with offences falling by 12% in the past year.
‘Our message to these criminals is clear: target London businesses and we’ll hunt you down and put you before the courts.’
The three men will be sentenced on October 23 at Kingston Crown Court.
Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.
MORE: Police officers among seven killed in A66 crash named
MORE: Teen biker has time to stop for gas in middle of wild police chase
MORE: Survivor of wrong-way motorway crash ‘cannot believe it has happened again’