ABBEY'S A FORTRESS

Top-secret plans to halt Crown Jewels raid. Elite forces to back up thousands of cops

-  RUSSELL MYERS

WESTMINSTER Abbey will be turned into a fortress to guard the Crown Jewels from an audacious Coronation heist.

The massive top-secret exercise, which is dubbed Operation Tower of London, involves thousands of police manning London's streets.

It will be backed up by elite teams of armed guards, snipers and the military.

Dozens of undercover officers will mix with the crowds as the King and Queen Consort travel to and from Buckingham Palace.

A source said: "The operation is huge, certainly in a similar scale to that of the funeral of the Queen, the largest event in a generation.

"Every available arm of the police and security services has been dispatched.

"The exercise turns the Abbey into Operation Tower of London, focussing on maximum security and maximum lockdown." The operation is headed by a joint task force consisting of a Met Police Gold Commander and MI5.

It will effectively turn the Abbey into the Tower of London in terms of security for Coronation regalia that never leaves the castle.