Police sting on gold gang

Police using stun guns have foiled an audacious £7 million gold bullion robbery.

An armed gang broke into a top-security factory and loaded more than 12 kilos of gold into a stolen car. But as they tried to escape flying squad officers shot out the high-powered BMW's tyres and after a quarter of a mile chase brought the car to a halt.

Two of the gang surrendered but a third put up a ferocious fight and was only subdued after he was shot four times with a Taser stun weapon.

One police source said: "This guy was an ex-Para and ex-French Foreign Legion. Just one shot from a Taser is enough to bring down a normal person. This guy had to be shot four times."

The three masked raiders struck at a factory in Enfield owned by Johnson Matthey, one of the world's largest suppliers of precious metals.

Police said the gang cut through the perimeter fence of the company and burst in on members of staff as they were unloading the gold from a security vehicle. One robber held a pistol to the head of a warehouseman and threatened to kill him unless the others cooperated, staff said.

About 10 members of staff were inside the building when the gang burst in, but none was injured.

The alleged raiders loaded the gold into the boot of their stolen getaway car and drove off.

But they were unaware that just outside the gates of the firm, armed detectives from the Flying Squad and officers from the National Crime Squad were lying in wait.

Police had laid the ambush in a carefully planned operation after receiving intelligence that the raid was going to take place.

As the robbers tried to drive away, officers shot out the tyres of the BMW with Hatton rounds in an effort to bring the car to a halt.

The BMW sped on for nearly a quarter of a mile, with two of the wheels on rims only, before it was finally brought to a halt by pursuing police.

The men in the car were surrounded by officers from the Yard's SO19 firearms unit, some of them armed with conventional weapons and others with Taser guns which can deliver a 50,000 volt shock through a wireguided-dart. The Taser was introduced on a trial basis last year to give officers a non-lethal alternative to the use of real firearms.

Tasers have been used around a dozen times in London by individual officers but never in a pre-planned operation such as an armed ambush. In the past police have shot and killed suspects in similar police ambushes on armed robberies. Police say they recovered two loaded automatic hand guns from the suspects' car.

All of the stolen gold bullion was also recovered after the raid on the Brimsdown Estate on Saturday night.

Three men were still being questioned by detectives at two separate London police stations today.

Detective Superintendent Barry Philips said: "This was a classic Flying Squad operation.

"Acting on intelligence, officers carried out a preplanned operation to intercept the robbers as they attempted to make their escape by driving away.

"We disabled the tyres of the suspect vehicle using Hatton rounds."

He added: "There was no danger to any member of the public or to officers involved in this procedure."