Guards injured in money transport attack

16 August 2005

BRUSSELS — Three guards were injured, one of them seriously, during a violent attack against an armoured money transport on the E19 Antwerp-Brussels motorway at 7am on Tuesday.

The robbery attempt took place at Zemst and police sealed the entire section of road off. One of the Antwerp-bound lanes was later reopened at 8.20am.

The robbers fired guns and used explosives, but fled the scene without any cash, newspaper ‘De Standaard’ reported.

A spokesman for armoured transport company Brink’s Belgium said the robbers fired repeatedly at the van, which was not accompanied by police.

Spokesman Dominique Pieters said the van was accompanied by three guards, two of whom were slightly hurt.

“A third guard was seriously injured and emergency services had to treat him at the scene. He was later taken to the university hospital of Antwerp,” he said.

The robbers used explosives to try and open the armoured van, but the “neutralisation system” was triggered and the robbers eventually fled without any cash.

Two escape vehicles are reported to have been found in Kampenhout and in Perk. Both of them had been set ablaze.

Police sealed off the E19 immediately after the robbery attempt, leading to long traffic delays. When one Antwerp-bound lane was opened at 8.20am, a 5km traffic jam had already built up from Vilvoorde.

A traffic jam also developed on the Brussels-bound lanes from Mechelen-Zuid as motorists slowed to look at the scene of the robbery.

The Brussels public prosecutor is expected to release further details about the robbery on Tuesday afternoon.

It was the third robbery aimed at a Brink’s transport in the past month. The other two robberies took place in Wallonia.

Subject: Belgian news