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Thursday, February 23, 2006
Wow I can't resist posting this one. Whenever I see something like this I laugh. I know the terrifying innocent people part of it isn't very nice, but there is something, about big heist's that I find really fascinating. In this age of computers & cyber crime, respect to people who are prepared to go for the big one :) ..... lol
The Times
February 23, 2006
Raiders steal £40m in Britain's biggest robbery
By Stewart Tendler and Caroline Merrell
A gang posing as police officers struck in the middle of the night by kidnapping the manager of a money storage depot in Kent and forcing him to take them inside after threatening his wife and child. Armed robbers posing as police officers stole up to £40 million in Britain’s biggest cash robbery, police said yesterday.
The Bank of England confirmed that “more than £25 million” was taken. The raid was so big that senior ministers and officials at the Bank were alerted within hours.The gang struck in the middle of the night at one of 11 cash management centres run by Securitas, with some of Britain’s biggest banks, to service the country’s ATM system.
The gang breached the sophisticated defences of the depot in Tonbridge, Kent, by forcing the manager to take them inside after kidnapping and threatening his wife and small son. In little more than an hour the gang had tied up the 14 staff, loaded a 7.5-tonne lorry — and disappeared.
Last night bank officials and senior staff from the Securitas company were still waiting for police to allow them to audit the losses. But The Times has been told by government sources that the police and the Bank of England fear that the amount stolen could be as much as £40 million.
Last night Securitas said that at least £25 million of the cash belonged to the Bank of England, and that the firm had already reimbursed them for the loss. The Bank of England said that the cash had been held by Securitas on behalf of the bank for distribution to meet consumer demand, and was a mix of new and old notes. The Bank added in a statement that there would be no cost to it or the taxpayer.
As forensic science officers worked at the depot in Vale Road, police sources admitted that “multiple millions of pounds” had been stolen. Such a haul would make the raid the biggest cash robbery in British history, dwarfing the attack by the IRA on the Northern Bank in Belfast last year and the £26 million in gold bullion stolen in the Brink’s-Mat robbery more than 20 years ago.
If the final sum is £40 million, it will be the second biggest heist ever, shading the £38.8m stolen from a branch of Brazil’s Central Bank, in Fortaleza, last August.
However none compare to the £516 million taken in March 2003 from the Iraq Central Bank, shortly before the fall of Saddam Hussein.
Detectives are scanning intelligence files and putting out feelers in the underworld for information on the gang behind the raid. The operation, known among criminals as a “tiger kidnapping”, would have taken months of surveillance of the depot and its staff and required split-second timing.
Police will be hoping that a record reward will tempt informants. Insurance companies and loss adjusters usually offer 10 per cent of the haul, making a possible reward of £4 million or more.The depot is part of a network run by Securitas, Europe’s biggest cash transportation company.
Four years ago it set up a “bulk cash management” company, with the help of HSBC and Barclays. Instead of individually transporting and storing money, the company gave the banks the opportunity to cut costs by using only a few anonymous sites to store cash, protected by the most sophisticated security equipment.
The Bank of England’s cash storage depot, for example, used to be just off the M11 near Loughton, where nearby roads were designed to stop thieves making a quick getaway. British banks have begun to outsource the collection, transport and storage of cash to cut the risk to staff of holding large amounts of cash at branches.
The raid began on Tuesday evening, when a manager from the depot was stopped by what he believed was an unmarked police car as he drove home from work. He was driving his silver Nissan Almera on the northbound carriageway of the A249 at about 6.30pm and had just passed the Three Squirrels public house near Stockbury when he was pulled over. The car, possibly a Volvo, was fitted with blue lights in the radiator grille and the men inside were dressed as officers.
One of them, wearing a high-visibility jacket and a police cap, came over and spoke to the manager. He got into the Volvo and was handcuffed. His captors then sped off towards the M20, joined the motorway at Junction 7 on the London-bound carriageway, and then left the M20 using the West Malling-Tonbridge exit slip at Junction 4, going on to the West Malling bypass.
In a synchronised operation that must have taken months to plan, the manager’s wife and young son were visited at their home in Herne Bay by two men, who also said that they were police officers. She was told that there had been an accident involving her husband. She gathered her son and they were driven off. At a prearranged rendezvous in Tonbridge, the Volvo met a white Renault van. The manager was tied up and put into the van, which drove off again.
At a second rendezvous the manager was threatened at gunpoint and shown his family being held. He was told to co-operate or they would be at risk. At 1am yesterday the gang drove the manager by car to the depot, followed by a white lorry. He was made to let at least six masked members of the gang, some armed, into the depot. The 14 staff were overpowered and tied up with plastic handcuffs.
The gang filled the lorry and vanished at about 2.15am. An hour later the staff raised the alarm. No one was hurt but the staff were very shocked. Detective Superintendent Paul Gladstone said: “This was a traumatic ordeal for the manager of the security depot and his family and for all of the staff who worked there.
“It is vitally important that we hear from people who may have seen something suspicious around the depot in Vale Road, or in any of the locations where this gang were operating.”
HEISTS THAT YIELDED FORTUNES
1963 The Great Train Robbery near Aylesford, Buckinghamshire, yielded £2.6 million, the equivalent of £40 million today
1980 £3.5 million in silver bullion stolen in East London
1983 A gang steals £6 million from a Security Express depot in East London
1983 Gold bullion worth £26 million is taken from a warehouse at Heathrow
1987 Cash and valuables thought to be worth £40 million are taken from a Knightsbridge safe deposit
1990 Bonds with theoretical value of £292 million are stolen from a City messenger
1999 Gang steals £6.6 million from a bank clearing house in Manchester
2002 £6.5 million is taken from a Heathrow security van
2003 The Pink Panther £23 million jewellery robbery in Central London
2004 More than £27 million is stolen in a raid on Northern Bank in Belfast
Two arrests in hunt for kidnap gang that stole '£50 million'
By Simon Freeman
Two people have been arrested by officers investigating Britain’s biggest ever cash robbery, Kent Police said tonight. The pair, a 29-year-old man and 31-year-old woman, are at police stations in the Kent area and are being questioned on suspicion of conspiracy to commit robbery. They were arrested in the London area.
Adrian Leppard, assistant chief constable of Kent: “These arrests are a positive development in the early stages of our investigation and show our commitment to bring the members of this organised criminal gang to justice.” Police would not talk about the background to the raids but he said: “We’re very grateful to everyone who has phoned our hotlines with information.“
Detectives today revealed that the gang behind the sophisticated raid on a Securitas cash depot could have escaped with up to £50 million. The extraordinary operation was planned and executed with military precision by professional gangsters operating at the highest levels of organised crime.
Mr Leppard said that the exact amount of cash stolen in new and used notes had yet to be calculated. But the complex in Tonbridge, Kent, targeted by the gang was frequently used to store cash in the region of £50 million. That amount would make the heist easily Britain’s biggest ever cash robbery.
The security firm and its insurers today announced a reward of up to £2 million for information leading to the recovery of the money and the gang's capture. Mr Leppard told a press conference today: "This is organised crime at its top level. This was planned and executed with military precision. This is a terrifying crime committed by professional and organised gangsters."
No arrests have been made so far, but Mr Leppard added: "There is no doubt in my mind that we will catch these people and convict them." Ports and airports across Britain have been put on alert as the massive operation to capture the gang continues. Police have warned that the robbers who held the depot manager's wife and eight-year-old son to pull off the sophisticated robbery are armed and dangerous.
They breached the defences of the depot by forcing the manager to take them inside. In little more than an hour the gang had tied up the 14 staff, loaded a 7.5-tonne lorry - and disappeared. Police today released two CCTV images taken from cameras at the compound at the time of the raid.
The first shows a white lorry arriving at the heavily-fortified depot in Vale Road, followed by a blue saloon car. In the second, the lorry's rear tailgate is lowered as the gang prepares to load up thousands of used and new bank notes, stacked in steel crates.
The raid began on Tuesday evening, when the manager from the depot - named this afternoon as Colin Dixon, of Herne Bay in Kent - was stopped by what he believed was an unmarked police car as he drove home from work. He was driving his silver Nissan Almera on the northbound carriageway of the A249 at about 6.30pm and had just passed the Three Squirrels public house near Stockbury when he was pulled over.
The car, a dark Volvo, was fitted with blue lights in the radiator grille and the men inside were dressed as officers. One of them, wearing a high-visibility jacket and a police cap, came over and spoke to Mr Dixon, who got into the Volvo and was handcuffed.
In a synchronised operation, Mr Dixon's wife, Lynne, and their eight-year-old son, were visited at their home in Herne Bay by two men, who also said that they were police officers. She was told that there had been an accident involving her husband. She gathered her son and they were driven off.
At a rendezvous in Tonbridge, the Volvo met a white Renault van. Mr Dixon was tied up and put into the van, which drove off again. At a second rendezvous Mr Dixon was threatened at gunpoint and shown his family being held. He was told to co-operate or they would be at risk.
At 1am yesterday the gang drove Mr Dixon by car to the depot, followed by a white lorry. He was made to let into the depot at least six masked members of the gang, some armed. The 14 staff were overpowered and tied up with plastic handcuffs. Mr Leppard said at a press conference today that Mr Dixon, his family and the staff had all been left traumatised by the raid.
He hoped that the "significant" reward would inspire members of the public - or perhaps criminals on the periphery of the gang - to come forward. "It's a unique reward. We have never released a reward of this level. I am hoping it's going to stimulate a lot of interest," he said. "This was a meticulously planned operation, which had taken weeks if not months of planning.
A lot of people were involved, a lot of people will know that something was going on." Mr Leppard said that the silver Nissan Almeira, registration WP52 KPV, the dark-coloured Volvo, and the "grubby" white lorry had yet to be traced.
He said: "The basic information... we know that there were at least six offenders wearing dark clothing, possibly coveralls. Some were wearing paintball masks, others balaclavas. They escaped with at least £20 million. The total amount could be as high as £40 million or even £50 million," he said.
"The manager's wife and child were in the vehicle for six hours and were taken to the scene of the robbery. They witnessed a terrifying ordeal, there were armed people with a range of different weapons. The eight-year-old boy has been absolutely traumatised by this. It was a terrifying crime committed by professional organised gangsters.
"This is a serious organised criminal gang. They are callous, they have taken hostages ... a young woman and her eight-year-old son. They have terrorised 14 members of staff." The depot is part of a network run by Securitas, Europe’s biggest cash transportation company. Four years ago it set up a "bulk cash management" company, with the help of HSBC and Barclays.
Instead of individually transporting and storing money, the company gave the banks the opportunity to cut costs by using only a few anonymous sites to store cash, protected by the most sophisticated security equipment. The Bank of England’s cash storage depot, for example, used to be just off the M11 near Loughton, where nearby roads were designed to stop thieves making a quick getaway.
British banks have begun to outsource the collection, transport and storage of cash to cut the risk to staff of holding large amounts of cash at branches.
Charlie
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