Three men have admitted conspiring to commit burglary after being caught trying to tunnel into a jewellery shop in Tooting, south London. Ioan Asafeti, 39, Laurentiu-Daniel Nitisoara, 38, and Sergiu Plastin, 42, pleaded guilty at Kingston Crown Court.
The attempted raid on Mitcham Road occurred in the early hours of 17 July. Police found a hole being dug through a wall from a neighbouring massage parlour into the jewellery store, along with tools.
The Met's Flying Squad investigation linked the men to a series of commercial burglaries targeting jewellers across London between May and July. Stolen goods from these incidents were valued at more than £700,000, with detectives stating the gang used tunnelling techniques to bypass security systems overnight.
The three men are due to be sentenced at Kingston Crown Court on 23 October.