[Armed robbers stole up to [GBP40 MLN] from BOE in the biggest bank robbery in UK history. FT reports that 4 armed men seized cash in new and old banknotes from a depot run by Securitas Cash Management. BOE initially assumed that at least GDP25 mln was seized but sources close to police investigation suggested the total amount could be close to GBP 40 mln. However, a BOE official said the c/b has already been reimbursed by Securities for the initial estimate of GBP25 mln and any further sums will be reimbursed once the full amount was calculated.] Can't believe it happend, folks...what's next...FED?)
TONBRIDGE, England Feb 23, 2006 (AP)â One of Britain's biggest and most audacious robberies was executed with military-style precision: One gang abducted the cash depot manager's family while another tied up guards and made off with up to $87 million. Police said they have arrested a man and a woman, and were expected to release other details late Thursday on the robbery, which bore striking similarities to a 2004 robbery in Northern Ireland. Police blamed criminal gangs not terrorists and said the hunt continued for the other men. A police spokesman said a 29-year-old man and a 31-year-old woman were arrested Thursday in the London area. They were being held at police stations in Kent and questioned on charges of conspiracy to commit robbery, police said. "This is organized crime at its top level. This was planned and executed with military precision," said Assistant Chief Constable Adrian Leppard of Wednesday's raid in the sleepy market town about an hour's drive from the Channel Tunnel, which separates England and France. The heist at Securitas Cash Management Ltd. began when some of the thieves, dressed as police officers, stopped the firm's manager as he drove home Tuesday about 20 miles 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 in the town of Herne Bay and persuaded his wife and his 8-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 loading the cash into a truck, police said. It took the men about an hour to load the cash. The staff managed to escape about an hour later and called police. "I would doubt very much whoever did it had a terror link," said Magnus Ranstorp, a terrorism expert at the Swedish National Defence College. "Normally, they don't go for high-risk ventures with massive amounts of law enforcement focus."