12 held in Heathrow raid probe

Scotland Yard today swooped on a gang suspected of carrying out the £2 million cash raid at Heathrow airport.

Flying Squad officers arrested 12 men in a series of dawn raids across the capital.

They were taken to London police stations where they faced questioning today about the robbery in March in which two men escaped with $3.2 million and other currency after hijacking a security van.

The van driver, who told police he was forced at knifepoint to drive the vehicle out of the airport, is understood to be among the dozen men held this morning. Other men employed at the airport were believed to be among those arrested.

The raiders struck on 19 March as cash from a South African Airlines flight was being transferred to a security vehicle in the "airside" area of Terminal 1.

The robbery was five weeks after two men got away with £4.6 million worth of foreign currency in a raid on a security van at Terminal 4.