City police to check Florida bond haul

CITY of London detectives are flying to Honda to see federal agents after US Cus - toms officers discovered a £71 million portion of the £292 million haul of bonds stolen in London earlier this year en route to Peru from Florida. The bonds were taken, alleg - edly at knifepoint, on a City street from a messenger for a broker's firm in May. Within an hour the Bank of England alerted dealers and brokers round the world. Since the robbery- bonds worth more than $238 million have been recovered and four men face trial in Britain on various

charges. Despite the Bank of En - gland 's action, attempts have been made in Europe and the United States to make use of the bonds, raising the possibil - ity that organised crime groups could be involved. One package of bonds was found by customs officers at Heathrow on a flight from Dublin. The Honda find last week also has an Irish connec - tion . The bonds were in a package booked on a flight to Lima from Miami by a man with an Irish accent and name. The package was uncovered by investigators checking flights to South America for cash from cocaine sales .

By Stewart Tendler CRIME CORRESPONDENT