Police search for Heathrow robbers

The cash was transferred from the Securicor van to a second vehicle

HEATHROW, England -- Police are searching for two men who stole £2.1 million ($3 milllion) from London's Heathrow airport at knifepoint.

Robbers made off with the cash haul after hijacking a security van in the airport's restricted zone on Tuesday morning.

The driver had just collected the used notes in two large silver strongboxes from South African Airways Flight 234 which had arrived at Terminal 1 from Johannesburg just before 0700 GMT.

He was forced to drive to another location, where the money was transferred to a second vehicle that disappeared, New Scotland Yard said. The driver of the van was uninjured.

Shortly before the robbery, a man was arrested in London in connection with a similar robbery at the airport in February, when about £4.6 million ($6 million) was stolen. He was later released with no further action being taken, Scotland Yard said.

The van was driven across the tarmac, where the two suspects forced it to stop, threatened the driver with a knife and ordered him to drive a few miles to Cranford, West London. The second vehicle had not been identified.

Government ministers in charge of transport and internal security demanded an immediate report into the latest raid from BAA, which operates the main UK airports.

"Access to an airport restricted zone where this robbery took place should be strictly controlled," a Department of Transport spokesman said.

"How robbers gained access will be an issue that the police will be investigating. Ministers have demanded an urgent report from BAA."

South African Airways said the stolen money was being transported on its behalf by security company ADI Securicor.

"ADI Securicor has handled movement of cargo for South African Airways for more than five years and there has been no previous incident," an SAA spokesman said.

In the February robbery two suspects -- described as being of Asian descent -- stole eight boxes containing cash that had just been unloaded from a British Airways flight from Bahrain into an airlines security van.

The vehicle was parked near the plane in a secure cargo loading bay near Terminal 4.

The van driver was at the rear of the vehicle checking its contents when he was approached by two men, who forced him onto the ground and put his hands into plastic cuffs. No weapon was observed, authorities said.

The driver suffered from shock and wrist injuries, they said.

The suspects then transferred the boxes of money from that British Airways van into another van that looked like a British Airways van -- painted gray, red and blue -- and escaped.

Before that van was abandoned and burned, the suspects transferred its contents to a white delivery van.