Detectives in Britain find van, some cash from heist

LONDON — Detectives investigating what could be the biggest cash robbery in British history recovered a "significant amount" of the money Friday from a van just miles from the heist site, police said.

The armed robbery Wednesday at a cash storage depot in the town of Tonbridge in Kent could have netted as much as $87 million, police have estimated.

Some of the stolen money was discovered in black sacks stashed in a van parked at the Ashford International Hotel, 10 miles from Tonbridge, near the Channel Tunnel in southeastern England. But investigators did not reveal exactly how much they had found.

Television footage showed officers wearing protective clothing removing large black sacks from the white van.

Police said forensic experts were going over the van in search of clues.

Earlier Friday, a gang using similar tactics stole $350,000 from a bank in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Both of this week's robberies used so-called "tiger kidnapping" tactics, when a gang takes an employee's family hostage to force the employee to help rob their own business.

But police in England said they had not found a link between the two crimes.

The robbery at Securitas Cash Management in Tonbridge began when a group dressed as police officers stopped the firm's manager, Colin Dixon, 51, as he drove home from the cash depot.

Another team kidnapped Dixon's wife and 8-year-old son, and threatened to harm them unless Dixon helped them gain access to the cash, authorities said.

Officers investigating the Tonbridge heist said Friday they arrested a 41-year-old woman in London a day earlier after she allegedly tried to deposit $10,500 into an account. She was arrested on suspicion of handling stolen goods, but police said she may be unconnected to the depot robbery.

Two others — a man, 29, and a woman, 31 — were arrested Thursday in London on suspicion of conspiracy to commit robbery. All three were later released on police bail.