London police lose keys to Wembley soccer stadium

GlobalPost

The locks at London's Olympic soccer venue Wembley Stadium have had to be changed, after police lost their keys.

A Metropolitan Police spokesman told CNN that officers first realized the keys had gone missing last Tuesday. Scotland Yard sent detectives to the site to look for the missing keys, but they were unable to find them, despite determining they had not been stolen. Because of the embarrassing blunder, Olympic organizers and police chiefs decided to change all the internal locks inside the 90,000-seat stadium.

More from GlobalPost: 2012 London Olympics coverage

"Keys being used by police officers on searches at Wembley Stadium were reported missing," a London 2012 spokesman said to CNN. "These were internal keys, locks have been changed and the security of the venue has not been compromised in any way."

Police are not treating the incident as criminal, according to Yahoo's Eurosport. Reports that the original keys have since turned up down the back of a couch in hospitality at Wembley have not yet been confirmed.

The Independent reported that the police spokesman also said no criminal offenses appear to have been committed in relation to the lost keys.

CNN also said that replacing all the high-tech laser keys used at the stadium is expected to cost in the tens of thousands of dollars.

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