After two nights of work, they left with the contents of dozens of safe-deposit boxes, in a methodical heist that has fascinated Britain and put police on the defensive.
The Daily Mirror newspaper today published surveillance- camera images showing the thieves in action. The footage shows several men, their faces covered with dust masks, entering and leaving the building repeatedly over the Easter weekend.
London's Metropolitan Police said detectives had obtained the footage before the newspaper published it. Today the force released still images of what it called three "highly audacious" suspects.
They climbed down an elevator shaft and drilled through concrete walls 2 meters (6 feet) thick into the vault. They stole the contents of 72 safety deposit boxes, which are used by many local dealers to store jewelry.
Police have not disclosed the value of the stolen goods.
The force has acknowledged that a burglar alarm at the Hatton Garden Safe Deposit facility was triggered just after midnight on April 3, the start of the holiday weekend, but no one was sent to check on it. The crime was not discovered until businesses reopened on Tuesday.
Britain has a soft spot for a good heist, and newspapers have reveled in the emerging details of the robbery.
Under the headline "Diamond Geezers," the Daily Mirror dubbed one red-haired raider in the video footage "Mr Ginger," another "Mr Strong" and a third, who appeared to be wearing expensive shoes, "The Gent.