The head of the operation; a former policeman: is said to have plotted with two others to hold up the cash van at gunpoint because he wanted to give the money to the needy in Africa.
The robber, who could not be named due to his country’s strict privacy laws, had set up his own security firm when he was forced to retire from the police after being
shot on duty.
But after working in Africa, he was affected by the poverty and starvation he saw at first hand. The robber then persuaded a former female employee of the firm to join his plot after convincing her to help him “spread wealth around the world”, he later told police.
The robber had already shoved bundles of cash through neighbouring letter-boxes as anonymous donations to people he knew were suffering financial problems.
He later told police he had only given away a fraction of the money, as he wanted to give the bulk of it to orphans in Africa and wanted to build houses and schools in Equatorial New Guinea.
The man’s wife said he had come back a changed man after working in Africa. She said: “When he was there he saw the starving children and this really affected him.
“Since then he was never the same. He was always planning charitable projects, and was always talking about dividing up wealth around the world.”
The pair of robbers are in custody facing jail.
