£ 40 m Heathrow robbery foiled

Six men were today arrested in an operation that foiled a £40m robbery at Heathrow airport, report agencies.

A manhunt has been launched for two others who escaped.

Armed officers ambushed the raiders, who rammed through the shutters of the Swiss Port Cargo warehouse on the outer perimeter of the airport in a white van. The gang threatened warehouse staff with guns, including knives and cudgels, said one report.

Their target: a huge quantity of precious metal - said in one report to be gold bullion - that had been delivered to the warehouse. They also attempted to force their way into a secure area containing a large quantity of banknotes.

The police challenged the gang after using hatton rounds - bullets designed to deflate tyres and open locks with minimal damage - to disable the van said The Guardian.

Two suspects escaped after hijacking another white van and forcing the driver to speed off. The driver of the van, which was recovered shortly afterwards, was not injured, The Guardian said.

"In preventing this attack,

we have foiled what would have been one of the biggest robberies ever committed in the UK. We believe that these men were part of an organised criminal enterprise," the paper quoted Detective Superintendent Barry Phillips, of the flying squad, as saying.

"It is clear that a lot of planning and preparation went into the attack, but the Met's flying squad was one step ahead of the team for some time." No shots were fired during the operation, and none of the warehouse staff were injured.

"A professional team of armed robbers have now been removed from society. This is an excellent example of the flying squad, supported by armed officers from SO19, ensuring that the security in and around Heathrow is maintained," said Assistant Commissioner Tarique Ghaffur, the head of the Met's specialist crime directorate.

Had they been successful, the thieves would have made off with an even bigger haul than the gang that carried out the Brinks Mat robbery in 1983. In that raid, six robbers broke into the Brinks Mat warehouse at Heathrow and stole £26m of gold bullion.