May 26th 2024.
Ermir Hysenaj was the employee at Securitas depot who had a secret agenda of gathering information about the security and layout of the facility for a gang planning a cash robbery. Unfortunately, even after the successful execution of the daring heist, Hysenaj has not yet paid back any of the money he owes for his participation in the crime. Despite a confiscation order of £250,383, the data released shows that he has not returned any of the spoils from the biggest cash robbery in Britain's history.
While Hysenaj's accomplices, Jetmir Bucpapa, Roger Coutts, and Lea John Rusha, have each returned only £1, Stuart Royal, a used car salesman, has paid back the largest amount of £50,000 out of the £2 million he was ordered to pay. Following him is Paul Raymond Allen, a former cage fighter, who gave back £420, more than the original amount of £380 that he was instructed to pay by the Crown Prosecution Service.
The robbery, which took place on February 22, 2006, involved a heavily armed gang that tied up and terrorized employees at the Securitas cash vault in Tonbridge, Kent. They also kidnapped the depot manager, Colin Dixon, and his family before executing the heist. Despite the efforts of Kent Police, who recovered around half of the stolen money and made several arrests, approximately £32 million is still unaccounted for, with some of it believed to have been transferred to Cyprus and Morocco.
After a trial in 2007, Stuart Royle, Roger Coutts, Lea Rusha, and Jetmir Bucpapa were all sentenced to life in prison for their roles in the robbery. Ermir Hysenaj, an Albanian man who had worked at the depot for only two months, was also given a lengthy sentence of 20 years for his involvement. It was revealed in court that Hysenaj was connected to the gang through fellow Albanian, Bucpapa.
Lee 'Lightning' Murray, a mixed martial arts fighter and considered the mastermind behind the robbery, along with his close friend Paul Allen, attempted to flee to Morocco. However, their lavish lifestyle raised suspicion, leading to their arrest four months later. Murray is currently serving a 25-year sentence in a Moroccan jail, while Allen was extradited back to the UK and served a 10-year sentence. He has since been released.
During the extensive investigation, the police made 36 arrests, but two suspects remain at large. One of them, Keyinde 'Kane' Patterson, who is believed to have disguised himself as a police officer during the robbery, is thought to be somewhere in the Caribbean. Another suspect, Sean Lupton, was arrested in 2006 and last reported to be in Cyprus.
According to author Howard Sounes, who wrote the book "Heist" about the Securitas raid, most of the stolen money was immediately divided and laundered by professional criminals in the black market. He states that there was never any hope of recovering the funds, even though some banknotes were found hidden in various places within the UK. The majority of the money was laundered and spent on luxury items, making it nearly impossible to trace.
The Securitas heist, which took place over two days in February 2006, is still considered the largest cash robbery in British history. The heavily armed robbers tied up 14 employees and abducted the depot manager and his family, making off with a total of £53,116,760 in Bank of England notes. Seven men were convicted and given collective sentences of 100 years for various charges related to the robbery.
Out of the stolen money, around £21 million has been recovered by the police, but the remaining £32 million is believed to have been either spent or untraceable. The CPS released data, showing that Rusha, Bucpapa, and Coutts paid back the nominal amounts after a judge ruled in 2010 that the money recovered at three locations belonged to them. However, it was not until eight years later that a judge in a closed court ruled that Allen did not need to pay back more than the £420 he had already returned.
Despite the efforts of Kent Police, who continue to review the case and appeal for any new evidence, they have been unable to recover a large portion of the stolen money. Detective Superintendent Gavin Moss, Head of Major Crime, states that they have made inquiries all over the world to identify those involved and recover the outstanding cash. However, with the passage of time, it has become clear that a significant amount of the money is now untraceable, and the authorities are still exploring avenues to seize assets from those involved.
In response to a Freedom of Information Act request, the CPS explained that a Confiscation Order is a personal liability on the person to pay a sum of money to the HM Courts and Tribunals Service. However, it seems that the majority of the stolen cash has disappeared into the underworld and may never be seen again.
The Securitas heist remains one of the most daring and audacious robberies in British history, and the hunt for the missing millions continues.
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