Police hunting robbers who carried out Britain’s biggest cash heist from a security depot in southern England said on Friday they had recovered several million pounds after arresting a man in London.
Detectives investigating the 53 million pound raid (about $93 million) on a security depot said bags of cash had been found on industrial premises in the Welling area of the capital and a 43-year-old man held on suspicion of handling stolen goods.
“Cash thought to amount to several million pounds has been recovered following a police raid in southeast London yesterday,” a spokesman for Kent police said.
“A number of bags containing cash are now being examined for forensic evidence. Until this examination is complete, the full amount will not be known.”
The record robbery took place last Wednesday after a gang posing as police officers seized the manager of a Securitas depot in Tonbridge, took his wife and son hostage and threatened to kill them unless he helped them get inside the compound.
Police have now charged five people in connection with the raid.
Roofer in custody
On Friday, Lea John Rusha, a 33-year-old roofer, was accused of conspiracy to commit robbery and was remanded in custody until March 13.
Unemployed Jetmir Bucpapa, 24, was also remanded in custody on Friday until March 13 following a brief hearing at Maidstone magistrates court. He is accused of conspiracy to rob.
On Thursday, two men and a woman appeared in the same court charged with various offences connected to the robbery and were remanded in custody.
One of those, car salesmen John Fowler, 57, who lives on a farm in the quiet Kent village of Staplehurst, is accused of kidnapping the depot’s manager Colin Dixon, his wife Lynn and their young son Craig.
Kent police confirmed on Friday that money had been found following searches at his farm but it was not a significant amount.
“This investigation is likely to continue for many months and possibly years as we track down those responsible and indeed all of the stolen money,” said Assistant Chief Constable Adrian Leppard in a statement.
