6 Opportiiiiist 9 snatches £292nt In paper money

A MUGGER escaped with more than £290 million in negotiable bonds yesterday after attacking a money bro - ker 's messenger in the City of London. The perpetrator stands to make not a penny from the crime, however. Within the hour, the Bank of England had flashed a warning on the City's market dealing screens detailing the documents stolen. The mess - a g e said : "There may be an attempt to present these certificates, and bona fides should be extremely carefully checked , with all precautions taken."

The mugger/in his late twenties and dressed in a brown leather bomber jacket, attacked Mr John Goddard, aged 58, an employee of Sheppards money brokers, at about 9.30am in Nicholas Lane, a quiet sidestreet off Cannon Street. The man held a knife to his throat and demanded money before tak - ing the briefcase. In it were certificates of deposit valued at £121.9 million and Trea - sury bills worth £170 million. City of London detectives and officials of the Bank of England said last night they believed the robber was purely an opportunist: "If anyone

wanted to use these certifi - cates in the money markets, they would have had to have done so very soon after the crime. We have no evidence that that happened," a City detective said. The Bank of England has plans for a Central Money Markets Office to be estab - lished later this year to enable such paper money trans - actions to be carried out on computer , obviating the need for messengers . There are only three ways the certificates of deposit and Treasury bills could be turned into cash: by waiting for them