Five men were convicted on charges they stole 53 million pounds ($105 million) from a Securitas AB depot after kidnapping the manager and his family in the largest cash robbery in U.K. history.
The five men were convicted at London's Central Criminal Court today after a seven month trial, a court official said in a telephone interview. Two other men were acquitted of charges related to the crime.
Prosecutors claimed the group, who all denied wrongdoing, masterminded and carried out the February 2006 theft from the depot in Tonbridge, England, which stored money for the Bank of England and other businesses. Police recovered 21 million pounds and are searching for the remaining 32 million pounds.
Stuart Royle, Lea Rusha, Jetmir Bucpapa, Ermir Hysenaj and Roger Coutts will be sentenced tomorrow.
The defendants were charged with conspiracy to kidnap, conspiracy to commit robbery and conspiracy to possess a firearm.
Authorities said robbers disguised as police abducted the depot manager at gunpoint and forced him to open the building. Police recovered firearms, flak jackets and a 7.7-ton truck they said was linked to the robbery.
``This was a meticulously organized crime,'' Nigel Pilkington, a Crown Prosecution Service official in the county of Kent, said in a statement. Police will continue to work to recover the robbers' ``ill-gotten gains,'' he said.
A sixth man, John Fowler, was acquitted on all counts today, the court spokeswoman said. A final defendant in the case, Keith Borer, was acquitted of handling stolen goods.
``I am ecstatic. I am just glad to get on with my life,'' Borer said in an interview outside the court.
Michael Boardman, the lawyer for Hysenaj, wasn't in his office and couldn't be reached to comment. Craig Rush QC, Fowler's lawyer, also wasn't immediately available to comment.
Gisela Lindstrand, a spokeswoman for Securitas Group, said the company needed to examine the court documents and that it was too early to comment.
