The Hindu : Five of Indian origin convicted in £ 3m. heist

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Nov 24, 2002

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International

Five of Indian origin convicted in £ 3m. heist

London Nov. 23. Five persons of Indian origin have been convicted by a court in Surrey, West London, for varying terms in connection with the robbery of more than £ 3 millions at Heathrow Airport in March this year.

Four of them were convicted at the Kingston Crown Court on Friday for robbery and another for handling stolen goods from two consignments of foreign currency stolen from a South African Airways 747 jet. All men pleaded guilty to the charges.

Sundeep Sidhu, a part-time security guard, who had volunteered to help unload high value cases from the aircraft, which had arrived from Johannesburg, was sentenced to five-and-a-half years and the remaining four were jailed for five years each. The Judge, Kenneth MacRae, described the crime as "amateurish" and "a totally unsophisticated enterprise".

After the daylight robbery, Sundeep Sidhu told the police that two Asian men had been hiding in the back of the van. They forced him to drive out of the airport and then fled with the money. But the police suspected it was an inside job, carried out by Sidhu and mounted a heavy surveillance operation. They compiled over 20 videos of the men talking about the money, which they gave to deaf lip-reader, 20-year old Jessica Rees, to interpret.

— PTI

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