Shell garage armed gang may have struck before

Mar 11 2009 The Journal

A GANG of “extremely dangerous” armed robbers could be responsible for a number of raids across the North East.

Police hunting robbers who threatened a security guard with a knife in a daylight cash machine robbery in Durham believe the same gang could have executed raids in Newcastle, North Shields and Teesside.

The gang got away with £70,000 from the busy filling station at Carrville, just off the A1 motorway in Durham, last Monday.

Police are now looking at similarities to a raid at Jesmond, Newcastle, three months ago and a botched robbery at a bank in North Shields in January.

In Jesmond two raiders hit a security guard over the head with a baton before grabbing the cash when he stopped outside the busy Tesco Metro store in Acorn Road, to put money into the cash dispenser.

The robbers escaped in a silver Land Rover Discovery driven by a third member of the gang.

Last Monday a guard had a knife pressed to his throat by masked raiders as he and a colleague loaded the filling station cashpoint with tens of thousands of pounds.

After stealing £70,000 in money cassettes to be loaded into the machine, the two raiders jumped over a fence and got into a Nissan Navara where a third man was waiting behind the wheel. Det Inspector Brad Howe, leading the hunt for the Durham robbers, said detectives “could not rule out” the possibility that the same gang was responsible for the Jesmond raid, and others in North Shields, and Yarm, Teesside.

In the North Shields raid on January 30 two security officers were approached by masked men at the Abbey National bank, in Rudyerd Street, North Shields, who grabbed a cashbox. But police officers saw the offenders. Following a struggle, the suspects overpowered the officers and got away in a silver Rover 414. No money was stolen.

Anyone with information is asked to call 0345 606-0365 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555111.