Robbers on Trial for Planned $60 Million Diamonds, Gold Raid

A London court has heard how a group of armed robbers who planned to steal £33 million ($60 million) in diamonds, gold and cash from a warehouse at Heathrow Airport last year were aided by an insider.

Police, who were waiting for the robbers, foiled the raid by eight men on May 17 last year. One man escaped, and the others plead guilty to conspiracy. Four other men pleaded not guilty to conspiracy to rob and are standing trial.

The court was told how the eight robbers reversed a van through the shutters at the Swissport cargo warehouse, and then threatened staff with hockey sticks and batons as £15 million ($27.3 million) worth of Peruvian gold was about to be unloaded from a Brinks Mat van into a vault.

"Clearly they were well-informed. They knew where to hit, when to hit and they knew what they were looking for," prosecutor John Kelsey-Fry QC told the court.

Around £18 million ($32.7 million) worth of diamonds and bank notes had already been placed into the vault after arriving on a previous flight.

"This robbery team needed and clearly had the benefit of an inside man, someone who worked at Swissport, who could provide them with the necessary information," Kelsey-Fry said.

The prosecutor said one of the four men on trial worked at Swissport and is alleged to be the insider. "What is said is that each of them was party to the plotting and planning and facilitating of this attempted robbery," Kelsey-Fry said.

He added the four provided a communication link between the inside man and the armed gang.