POLICE found an estimated £19.3million in cash when they searched safety deposit boxes in Edgware.

They investigated 2,100 boxes at Edgware Safe Depositories in High Street, Edgware, as part of Operation Rize.

A total of £53.5m in cash was seized from two safe depositories in Park Street, Hampstead, and one in Edgware.

The searches also led to the discovery of firearms, including handguns and ammunition, as well as fraudulent passports, credit cards, cheque books and drugs including cannabis, crack cocaine and opiates. Other discoveries included three paintings by 17th-century Dutch artists.

The search process took more than ten days, with police working round the clock to search nearly 7,000 boxes in total from the centres in Hampstead and Edgware.

Police believe the majority of the cash recovered is from the proceeds of criminal activity.

The Met Police's Economic and Specialist Crime Command have arrested a 44-year-old woman, a 60-year-old man and a 52-year-old-man on suspicion of money laundering.

They have been released on bail until September.