£11m recovered from Securitas raid

Police investigating Britain's biggest cash robbery have recovered £11 million so far, Kent's Chief Constable revealed today.

Michael Fuller also said police had made a significant cash seizure in the past 24 hours, but did not disclose exactly how much.

Mr Fuller was giving details about his force's investigation into the raid at the Securitas depot in Tonbridge, in which more than £53 million was stolen.

He said the scale of the operation was "massive", with more than 300 police officers and staff working on the hunt for those responsible.

Speaking at a press conference at Kent Police HQ in Maidstone, Mr Fuller said his force was determined to retrieve all the stolen money.

"I'd like to make clear our absolute determination to catch the people who committed this crime," he said.

"We will do everything humanly possible to retrieve all the stolen money and track down the criminals involved.

"Our aim is to ensure that no-one profits from this crime.

"We will do whatever it takes and go wherever we need to in the world to achieve this aim."

He said his officers would "relish the challenge" of searching for the stolen cash.

Mr Fuller said an operation in Welling, south-east London - during which cash was found in a yard at the back of a vehicle repair business - had resulted in the recovery of £9 million.

During the course of the robbery, the gang kidnapped depot manager Colin Dixon, 51, and held his wife Lynn, 45, and son Craig, then 8, hostage.

Mr Fuller said: "They are recovering well from their ordeal and they hope to get back to leading normal lives as soon as possible."

He revealed that the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) had been invited to review the progress of his force's investigation into the heist.

This was "to ensure we have identified and exploited all reasonable lines of inquiry and that our investigation is professional and thorough", he said.

The PSNI team is expected to arrive early this week.