A fourth person was due to appear in court on Friday, charged in connection with the British record £53,1-million robbery, as three others remain in custody. Jetmir Bucpapa (24) is accused of conspiracy to commit robbery at a Securitas cash depot in the town of Tonbridge, in Kent, southeast England, last Wednesday.
The Tonbridge man, charged on Thursday night, was set to appear before magistrates in Maidstone, Kent’s county town. Police have been working flat out to catch the gun-toting gang behind the biggest cash heist in British history, which dwarfed previous notorious raids, like the 1963 Great Train Robbery by Ronnie Biggs and cohorts.
Meanwhile, detectives have been given a further extension to keep questioning a 33-year-old man arrested on Monday. A man and a woman, arrested on Thursday, were released without charge, Kent police said.
Two men and a woman became the first to appear in the dock on Thursday. Car dealer John Fowler (60) was charged with conspiracy to rob the depot, kidnapping the facility’s manager, wife and nine-year-old son — who were held at gunpoint — and handling stolen goods.
Fowler, reportedly a multi-millionaire wheeler-dealer figure, owns the sprawling farm estate in Staplehurst, Kent which police officers have combed for evidence in recent days in their hunt for the missing loot.
Car dealer Stuart Royle (47) of Maidstone, was charged with conspiracy to rob, and his self-employed hairdresser girlfriend Kim Shackleton (38) was jointly charged together with Fowler with handling stolen goods. That charge relates to steel cages that were used to hold the stolen money, later found ditched in a field. The trio were remanded in custody to appear again at Maidstone Crown Court on March 13.
The robbery more than doubled the previous British heist record of £26,5-million, stolen from a Belfast bank in December 2004.
The robbery gang kidnapped depot manager Colin Dixon (51) and held his wife Lynn (45) and son Craig, who were left traumatised by their ordeal. They were then left tied up, along with 14 other workers at the site, as the robbers fled with exactly £53 116 760 in cash. — AFP