Police hunting for a ringleader behind the £14m Hatton Garden heist nicknamed “Basil” have made an arrest.

Scotland Yard said a 57-year-old man was detained on Tuesday morning in London in connection with the 2015 burglary in which which elderly crooks broke into a secure vault and stolejewellery, cash, gold and platinum.



Announcing the arrest, police said a number of items were seized from the address raided in Islington, north London, when detectives executed a search warrant at 7.30am.

Flying Squad detectives have been searching for those who evaded capture after the burglary.

Their main target has been Basil, a mystery figure who has been at large for the past three years.

After members of the gang were convicted and jailed for the heist in 2016, police put out an appeal for information about Basil. There are no plans to reissue it, it is understood. Police think he played a crucial role in getting the gang into the building housing the vault that contained the safety deposit boxes.

The mystery man helped the gang but his identity has never become public. Those convicted of the burglary say they did not know his real name.



Police gave few details about the raid, but said the man was arrested “on suspicion of non-residential burglary”, and not for the lesser charge of handling stolen goods.

The heist over the Easter weekend in 2015 was the largest burglary in English criminal history and a large amount of the stolen valuables are still unaccounted for.

The men drilled through a 50cm-thick concrete wall and broke into 73 security boxes in London’s diamond district without leaving a forensic trace.

Among the ringleaders convicted after a 2016 trial were John Collins, 77, of Islington; Daniel Jones, 63, of Enfield, north London; Brian Reader, 78, of Dartford, Kent; and Terry Perkins, 69, from Enfield, who died in prison in February.



The break-in began on 2 April 2015 and CCTV showed Collins and others arriving in a white van at Hatton Garden at around 8.20pm.

Soon after, a red-haired man – the unidentified Basil, possibly wearing a wig – let them in through a fire exit on a nearby street, which had access to the building housing the vault at 88-90 Hatton Garden.

Basil opened the door of the building, having gained codes for doors and a key for a mortice lock on the front door.

Police believe Basil, whose face investigators were unable to get a clear image of from the CCTV footage, was brought in for technical expertise. He was most likely involved in several roles, including neutralising the alarm and handling the electrics. Once in, Basil opened a fire escape door to the building.