01/02/2008

Extradited Briton Charged With UK’s Biggest Cash Robbery

A British man extradited from Morocco has been charged in connection with the UK's biggest cash robbery.

The suspect, who was flown from Morocco on Thursday and held overnight in custody in Maidstone, Kent, will appear at Maidstone Magistrates' Court later on undisclosed charges relating to a 53m raid on a Securitas depot in Tonbridge, Kent.

Police recovered £21 million of the stolen money after the robbery at sites in Kent and southeast London, with much of the rest believed to have been sent away to Morocco and northern Cyprus.

The man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was one of two suspects arrested in Morocco in 2006 and held at a prison in Rabat on unrelated charges after the Supreme Court granted approval for a UK request to have him extradited. Extradition proceedings against the second suspect have still to be completed.

Earlier this week, five men were sentenced to minimum jail terms of ten and 15 years after being found guilty of robbing the depot in Tonbridge in February 2006.

The depot's manager Colin Dixon, his wife Lynn and their young child were kidnapped at gunpoint and used to gain entry to the building. Trial judge Mr Justice Penry-Davey told the gang they had taken part in "organised banditry".

See: 'Spy' TV Camera Aided Securitas Robbery

(GC)

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