A 10-man gang armed with machine-guns yesterday hijacked a light aircraft carrying over £1 million in cash on the tarmac of Sao Paulo city airport in Brazil.
Describing the group as professionals, a police chief said the gang carried out the audacious daylight raid in just 10 minutes. Mr Mario Moretti Filho, chief of airport police, said: "This gang were specialists. They were well organised and they knew the exact nature of their target."
Arriving at the airport during the morning rush hour, the men split into two gangs. Half of the group posed as business travellers, while the others dismantled a section of the airport's security fence and drove onto the tarmac in several vans.
At 8 a.m. the two gangs, co-ordinating the operation on their mobile phones, stormed onto the runway and overpowered security guards. They then surrounded the aircraft, which was about to take off for the small town of Aracatuba about 290 miles north-west of Sao Paulo, and seized the sacks stuffed with money.
After carrying out the 10-minute heist the gang escaped through the gap in the fence and disappeared in the rush-hour traffic.
The money belonged to the Bank of Brazil and was being transported by a security company to a small branch in the interior of Sao Paulo state.