A G4S security guard has allegedly vanished with 40 boxes containing cash worth £1 million ($1.
3 million) from his abandoned van.
The incident happened at around 9 am on April 23 after the 36-year-old guard, Joel March, left his armored van in a quiet road in Clapham, London.
Residents, who became suspicious after seeing a G4S van standing on a double yellow line, alerted the security company, leading to the arrest of the dad-of-three in nearby Brixton.
A source told The Sun that he became suspicious after spotting the van in a residential area where there were no shops nearby.
After having a look inside, he said he “saw some strips of paper with ‘mom’, ‘dad’ and phone numbers. That worried me in case someone had come to harm.”
The resident reached out to G4S at 5 pm to alert them but said they weren’t ‘particularly concerned’.
However, the Met Police arrived at the spot at around 7 pm while responding to ‘reports of a theft of cash deposit boxes’.
“Some of the guard’s family turned up at around 8 pm very upset,” the resident added. “They said he’d been under a lot of pressure.”
Before the arrest was made, March’s mother, who lives with him, said his personal phone was at home on the day of the incident.
“He was a bit stressed before this but I can’t think why he would do it,” she told The Sun. “As far as I know he never had any money issues.”
A spokeswoman for Scotland Yard said: “Police were called at approximately 7 pm on Tuesday, 23 April to reports of a theft of cash deposit boxes from a cash-in-transit vehicle.
“Officers attended a location in the Larkhall Rise area of Clapham where the vehicle was parked. There was no sign of forced entry to the vehicle.
“An investigation was launched by the Met’s Flying Squad and a 36-year-old man was arrested by officers on suspicion of theft at approximately 3 pm on Wednesday, 24 April in SW2.
“He has been taken to a south London police station. A quantity of cash has been recovered.”
Ex-Met-chief superintendent Barry Phillips said: “Something has gone seriously wrong. The van’s movements should have been monitored and the controllers should have been in regular communication with the guard.”
G4S has also launched an investigation into the matter.
A spokeswoman for G4S said: “These incidents are extremely rare in our UK Cash business and we are working closely with the Metropolitan Police to resolve the matter. The financial impact is not material.”
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