A total of more than £53 million has been found during searches at safe deposit centres across London.

The discovery follows a swoop on an Edgware safe depository on June 2 which police suspected was being used by criminals to store assets.

Police officers have been working round the clock since the initial raids by 300 officers on London addresses thought to be linked to crimes ranging from money laundering to paedophilia and have now completed their searches.

In total, 6,717 boxes have been opened and searched from the depository in Manor Park Crescent, in Edgware, and two centres in Hampstead and Park Lane, run by the private firm Safe Deposit Centre. Some 3,608 of the boxes had items inside.

During the ten-day operation, code named Rize, the contents of the boxes - which range in size from A4 drawers to walk-in cupboards - have been transported to a secure location to be investigated.

As well as an estimated £53.5m in cash, police also found four handguns including a large amount of ammunition, fraudulent passports, credit cards and cheque books, drugs including cannabis, crack cocaine and opiates, artwork, child abuse images and a large amount of jewellery.

On June 9, six suitcases containing what is believed to be gold dust were also found.

The investigation was the first of this scale the Metropolitan Police has ever conducted against suspected criminals using this type of secure storage.

Police estimate that there is likely to be around 1,800 individual investigations as a result of Operation Rize.

According to the police, early indications suggest that the majority of the cash seized is from the proceeds of criminal activity, much of which was found without paperwork and stuffed into plastic carrier bags.

Three people have been arrested on suspicion of money laundering and are believed to be directors of the firm.

Leslie Sieff, 60, was arrested in Finchley Road, Hampstead, and Jacqueline Swan, 44, was arrested in Park Street, Marble Arch on June 2.

On June 3, Milton Woolf, 52, was arrested at Heathrow Airport.

They were all bailed to return to a central London police station in early September.

The raids followed two years of work which linked the three businesses to organised crimes including paedophilia, firearms, drug trafficking, fraud, human trafficking, prostitution and money laundering.

People who are concerned about their property stored at the depositories can call 0800 030 4613.

So far the call centre has completed 850 forms from members of the public wanting property restored.