Three people have been arrested in connection with one of Britain’s biggest robberies, police said on Friday, after they recovered three of the getaway vehicles.
A group of thieves made off with up to £50-million from a cash depot in the small market town of Tonbridge, south-east of London.
The latest arrest was a 41-year-old woman who allegedly tried to deposit £6 000 into a savings and loan account on Thursday. Police would not give any details other than to say she was arrested on suspicion of handling stolen goods.
Two others — a 29-year-old man and 31-year-old woman — were also arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to commit robbery.
The robbery at Securitas Cash Management in Tonbridge began when some of the thieves, dressed as police officers, stopped the firm’s manager as he drove home on Tuesday about 32km from the cash depot.
The manager got into their car, which he believed to be a police vehicle, and was handcuffed, police said. At the same time, another team of masked thieves went to the manager’s house and persuaded his wife and his eight-year-old son to go with them, saying the man had had an accident. The manager allegedly was told to cooperate or his family would be hurt.
The group with the manager then went to the depot and tied up the manager and 14 of the depot’s employees before spending about an hour loading cash into a truck, police said.
Three vehicles, including the van used to hold the depot manager’s family, were recovered, police said.
The Tonbridge raid bore similarities to a 2004 heist in Northern Ireland in which thieves netted £26,5-million. Three men — including a bank employee — have been charged.
In both cases, the robbers disguised themselves as police officers and targeted a bank’s cash-distribution centre — and used hostages to breach security.
International authorities have blamed the outlawed Irish Republican Army for committing the Northern Bank robbery, but police on Thursday pointed suspicions instead at a conventional organised-crime gang.
More than 400 people have called police about the robbery. A reward of £2-million has been offered for any information leading to the recovery of the cash. — Sapa-AP