Armed robbers abduct family to steal $106m

LONDON - An armed gang posed as policemen to abduct a security manager and his family before stealing up to £40 million ($106 million) in one of Britain's biggest robberies.

A gang of at least six people tied up 15 members of staff at the Securitas depot in Tonbridge, Kent, in southern England before fleeing with the cash.

Police said yesterday that the raid began when the manager of Securitas' main southern cash depot was pulled over in his car on Tuesday by what he believed was an unmarked police car.

A man in a high-visibility jacket and "police-style" hat got out of the vehicle, which had blue lights in the front grille, and spoke to him. Trusting the men to be officers, the manager got into their car and was handcuffed.

Meanwhile, two men dressed as police visited the manager's wife and young son at their home, told them the manager had been involved in an accident, and took them away.

After a brief motorway journey, the car with the manager inside drove alongside a white van and the manager was bundled inside, tied up and driven to an unknown location.

He was threatened at gunpoint and told to "co-operate or his family would be at risk", a police spokesman said.

He was then taken to the Vale Rd security depot where at least six men, some armed with handguns, threatened and tied up 15 members of staff.

The gang loaded a substantial amount of cash into a white truck before driving off. The operation inside the depot is said to have lasted little more than an hour.

Kent police were alerted about an hour later when the shocked but physically unhurt staff activated an alarm. The manager, his wife and son were also uninjured.

Detective Superintendent Paul Gladstone of Kent police's serious and organised crime unit said: "This was a traumatic ordeal for the manager of the security depot, his family and all of the staff who worked there.

"They have all coped extremely well in the circumstances, when faced with threats and a gang of armed men."

Gladstone said police believed such a robbery needed extensive planning and appealed for information.

"It is vitally important that we hear from people who may have seen something suspicious or someone acting oddly either round the depot or in any of the locations where this gang was operating," he said.

"A very substantial sum of money running into millions of pounds has been stolen and we are determined to bring the robbers to justice."

A Securitas spokesman said: "Our thoughts go out to everyone who has been affected by this. It's a terrible thing for anyone to have to go through in the course of their life. We are particularly pleased, if that's the right expression, that no one has been hurt."

The Bank of England confirmed that more than £25 million ($66.62 million) had been stolen, with unconfirmed reports suggesting that up to £40 million was taken.

In December 2004, £26.5 million was taken from the Belfast headquarters of the Northern Bank. Nearly all remains unrecovered, though some cash seized in County Cork last year was linked to the robbery.

- INDEPENDENT