Heist suspect extradited
2008-02-01 07:27
London - A man has been extradited from
Morocco to Britain in connection with the country's biggest
heist - the theft two years ago of £53m from a cash
depot in Kent, the Home Office said on Thursday.
Two suspected members of the gang that robbed the Securitas
depot in February 2006, who cannot be identified for legal
reasons, have been held in Morocco pending the outcome of
extradition requests.
"We submitted extradition requests to Morocco. The Moroccan
authorities have agreed to one of the requests and he is on his
way back to the country," a Home Office spokesperson said.
He said the other man was still being held in Morocco
waiting the outcome of the extradition request.
'Organised banditry'
Five men were jailed for a total of at least 70 years on
Tuesday after being convicted of kidnapping and robbery in the
so-called Securitas heist.
The robbers - some dressed as policemen and most wearing
prosthetic disguises - snatched the record haul after getting
past tight security by kidnapping the depot's manager, his wife
and son at gunpoint in a crime described by the judge as
"organised banditry".
They were also helped by "inside man" Ermir Hysenaj, who not
only provided details of the building's interior layout and
security protocols, but also secretly filmed it using a tiny
camera hidden on his belt.
Despite the elaborate planning, the gang was rounded up by
police within days of the February 2006 raid at the Securitas
Depot in Tonbridge, Kent, after detectives received a tip-off.
Four members of the gang, Stuart Royle, 49 - who refused to
come to court - Jetmir Bucpapa, 26, Lea Rusha, 35, and Roger
Coutts, 30, were each sentenced to a minimum of 15 years' jail.
Hysenaj, 28, will serve a minimum of 10 years.
The judge recommended that Bucpapa, an Albanian national,
be deported at the end of his sentence.
All were convicted at the Old Bailey criminal court on
Monday of conspiracy to kidnap, conspiracy to rob and conspiracy
to possess firearms.
- Reuters