A GANG of robbers staged a terrifying armed kidnap plot to pull off a £53 million (€78.7m) heist at a Bank of England cash store, the Old Bailey court heard yesterday.

Police in the North carried out a search today in connection with the £26.5m (€38.3m) Northern Bank robbery.

A motorist could yield a clue to the identity of bank robbers who carried out a £200,000 (€293,000) hostage raid in Belfast, it emerged today.

Detectives in England investigating the multi-million pound Securitas depot raid have recovered “a quantity of cash” from a white Transit van linked to the robbery, it emerged tonight.

British police today urged criminal associates of the armed gang responsible for the country’s biggest ever robbery to turn informer.