Scotland Yard today arrested nine men in connection with the multi-million pound Hatton Garden heist.

In a series of dramatic raids Flying Squad officers burst into addresses in north London and seized seven members of the alleged robbery gang behind the Easter bank holiday raid.

Two other men - aged 58 and 43 - were later arrested to bring the total number held to nine, Scotland Yard said.

Officers earlier recovered what they described as a “significant amount of high value property” which is believed to have been stolen from the safe deposit company.

All of the seven held in raids in north London are British, Scotland Yard said.

The seven men arrested during this morning's raids are aged between 48 and 76. Around 200 officers were involved in morning raids of 12 addresses in London and Kent.

Those held are aged 48, 50, 58, 59, 67, 74 and 76.

Four were held in Enfield, one in east London and two in Dartford.

The Met said :”A number of large bags containing significant amounts of high value property have been recovered from one address. Officers are confident these are items stolen during the burglary."

The dramatic operation came just over six weeks after a gang staged the audacious robbery at the Hatton Garden Safe Deposit company and escaped with around £60 million in diamonds, cash and valuables.

The robbers cut through a 20in thick concrete wall to get into the vault holding the safety deposit boxes they plundered.

In a raid likened to the Hollywood film Oceans Eleven the gang disabled a communal lift in the office building and scaled down the lift shaft to reach the basement vault.

There was speculation that the raid was carried out by an Eastern European crime gang and that it involved inside knowledge.

Today Commander Peter Spindler, head of serious and organised crime, described the police operation leading up to the arrests as “highly complex.”

He said: “There has been much public speculation over recent weeks and I am sorry that we have appeared tight lipped but this has been a very complex case with many lines of inquiry.

“I want to publicly thank the many officers from the Flying Squad who have put their lives on hold to ensure that the victims of this callous crime get the justice they deserve.”

CCTV images of the gang showed six suspects who plundered more than 70 deposit boxes over two days over the Easter Bank holiday.

They appeared to operate in two shifts over the bank holiday weekend and escaped detection when police failed to turn up when an alarm went off on Good Friday.

The thieves used a Hilti DD350 to tunnel their way through a concrete wall and bypass heavy security locks.

Detectives released very little information about the robbery with only one appeal to “wives and girlfriends” of anyone who used heavy duty drills.

Today’s raids will lead to speculation that the gang were lying low in London and had not fled the country as some reports have claimed.

The raids are a dramatic success for the Yard and follow widespread criticism of the force over their handling of the raid and the failure to answer the alarm call.

The gang left items and safety deposit boxes strewn around the floor of the vault leading to speculation that the thieves were searching for a particular item.