Police hunting depot raid gang recover £7m

Published on 04/03/2006 01:49

DETECTIVES hunting for the gang behind Britain's biggest armed robbery found up to £7 million hidden on an industrial estate in south-east London yesterday.

It was the biggest cash find to date, but most of the money from last week's 53 million raid on a Securitas depot in Tonbridge, Kent, is still missing.

A 43-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of handling stolen goods when dozens of police officers swooped on the Graves industrial estate in Welling. The money was found in a yard at the back of ENR Cars, a vehicle repair business run by Nigel Reeve. But Mr Reeve, who drove to Spain in a white van two days after the robbery, said he was completely innocent and was happy to return to the UK if Kent Police asked him to. He said the 43-year-old man arrested at the site worked for him and was also "completely innocent".

Part of the yard where the money appeared to have been found was sub-let to someone else, he said.

Five people, four men and a woman, have now appeared in court in connection with the heist. Lea John Rusha, 33, from Tunbridge Wells, Kent, was remanded in custody yesterday until 13 March, accused of conspiracy to commit robbery.