ORGANISED crime gangs from England may be behind an explosion in cash-in-transit robberies that has seen hundreds of thousands of pounds seized from security guards in the west of Scotland in the past few months.
Masked robbers have carried out 17 cash-in-transit "hits" in the Glasgow area this year, with more than £700,000 snatched from security guards delivering money to cash machines at banks, supermarkets and shops.
That compares with only five robb
eries for the whole of last year – and the rise has triggered urgent talks between police, banks and security companies on how to tighten procedures.
Following the dramatic upsurge in attacks on guards delivering money, The Scotsman can reveal a taskforce has been formed to crack down on a crime until now associated with London, Manchester, Birmingham and Liverpool.
The group, which has been formed under the auspices of the Scottish Business Crime Centre in Stirling, held its first meeting last month, and is understood to have come up with a range of ideas to make cash-in-transit robberies harder to carry out.
Timing of cash deliveries, public awareness, the position of cash machines and specific security measures employed by the security companies will all come under the microscope.
Those involved in the talks include senior detectives, representatives from Royal Bank of Scotland, HBOS and other banks and building societies, and the British Security Industry Association.
Manchester has seen a massive reduction in cash-in-transit crimes in the last two years after police launched both high- visibility and covert patrols during cash deliveries.
That, and the increase in the crime north of the Border, has raised concerns that the gangs are migrating to Scotland.
Strathclyde Police has launched Operation Armada, involving a dedicated team of detectives, to catch the robbers. So far, three arrests have been made, although police believe many more people may have been involved in the crimes.
In each of the crimes, the robbers waited for the guard to leave the van with the cash. It is understood a number of the cash containers contained red dye "booby traps", which are meant to explode over the notes, identifying them as stolen. However, in some robberies, the mechanism failed to operate.
Those held are from the Glasgow area, but Detective Inspector Alan Graham told The Scotsman gangs normally operating in England may have seen an opportunity north of the Border.
"We are considering the possibility that the crime may have been displaced from Manchester and elsewhere," he said.
Detectives are alarmed at an increase in the use of violence in the most recent attacks, which have involved the use of knives and guns.
One theory for the rise in cash-in-transit robberies is that organised crime groups have shifted focus from the traditional "bank job", which improved security has made much more difficult.
Inspector Martin Rutland, of the Scottish Business Crime Centre, said people involved in these crimes were "highly mobile" and "would not think twice about driving a couple of hundred miles to carry out a hit".
He said the proliferation of cash machines in the last ten years had made cash-delivering security guards a potentially bigger target.
"Cash carriers are now delivering to many more premises. They're going all over the place. That means the risk profile changes," he said.
"The centre's financial crime group has brought interested parties together to discuss what everybody's issues are from a security perspective.
"The aim is to reduce the opportunities for cash-in-transit robberies. We don't know what all the issues are. It's never been too much of an issue in Scotland – until now."
Masked pair snatch £100,000
TWO masked men made off with more than £100,000 after confronting two security officers as they delivered cash to an ATM outside a Bank of Scotland branch in Shawlands, Glasgow, in the early hours of 26 August.
The were armed with blades, and one of the guards was slashed on the hand and arm during a struggle. The robbers escaped with the cash in a dark car.
The injured man was treated in the Victoria Infirmary.
Blade link to night robbery
POLICE are linking the Shawlands robbery to another that took place in Pollockshields more than two weeks earlier.
About 10:30pm on Saturday, 9 August, two masked men approached two Securicor guards delivering money to the Bank of Scotland in Albert Drive. The men threatened them with a bladed weapon and demanded cash, before fleeing to a nearby waiting car with a six-figure sum.
Smash-and-grab at bank machine
A GANG of "hole-in-the-wall" raiders escaped with a five-figure haul in Alexandria, Dunbartonshire, early last month – the third attack in as many weeks.
The raid at the HBOS branch in the town's Main Street, happened at about 9pm on 1 September.
Balaclava-clad raiders broke into the bank by smashing a window while guards were inside refilling ATM machines. They were threatened with a knife before the gang got away in an Audi estate car.
The full article contains 855 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
