Belfast: Three jailed over plot to rob cash truck

The men plotted to rob a G4S cash-in-transit truck in west Belfast

Three men have been jailed over a planned armed robbery of a cash-in-transit van.

The plot involved robbing a G4S truck that was due to call at a shop on the Glen Road in west Belfast.

Stephen Allen, 25, of Glenville Park, Newtownabbey, and Michael Leo McMillan, 29, of Carlisle Road, Belfast, received nine-year sentences.

They will spend half of the sentence in prison and half out on supervised licence.

Both pleaded guilty to charges of conspiracy to rob, possession of a firearm with intent and having a firearm and ammunition.

Jason Francis McMillan, 32, of Eithne House, Duncairn Parade, Belfast, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to rob and was sentenced to six years and two months, with half in custody and half on licence.

The police have said that the men were arrested as part of an investigation into criminality linked to the INLA.

'Tried to flee'

Belfast Crown Court heard that on the morning of Saturday, 6 March 2021, the cash-in-transit truck was due to call at a Spar shop to collect takings totalling £4,679.

A prosecution lawyer said that in the first week of March 2021 the PSNI's Paramilitary Crime Task Force (PCTF) believed an armed robbery was going to take place in the Belfast area.

The court heard that at about 07:30 GMT on 6 March, a stolen Volkswagen Tiguan was observed with two men on board and, later that morning, it was seen travelling in convoy with a stolen black Seat Leon.

Both vehicles were fitted with false number plates, the prosecutor said.

At 08:50 GMT, police approached the Tiguan and removed the driver, Stephen Allen, who was wearing orange and blue gloves.

The court heard that Michael McMillan, who was wearing black gloves and a hat, tried to flee from the car but was arrested.

A loaded reactivated Webley revolver and six rounds of ammunition were found in the rear of the car along with a petrol canister.

The court was then told that Jason McMillan was seen by police at 09:00 in the rear garden of his parent's home "doing something to a neighbour's fence".

'Dry run'

Police searched the garden and found a car key. He was subsequently arrested at a petrol station on the Falls Road.

The prosecution lawyer said mobile phones were seized from the defendants and analysis showed that over a four-hour period there were 45 contacts between them along with 146 text messages.

The court heard that the previous day CCTV footage showed the Tiguan following a G4S van on the Shankill Road and police believed this was a "dry run''.

Sentencing the defendants, a judge said: "The intended robbery in a residential area did not come to fruition but it was not due to any lack of intent. It was due to the timely intervention of the police.''

The three defendants have 235 convictions on their criminal records.

Det Sgt Crothers, from the PSNI's Paramilitary Crime Task Force, said the men's cars were stopped and searched as part of "a proactive policing operation into criminality linked to the INLA".

"This incident occurred in a busy shopping area at 9am in the morning and could well have ended in tragedy if police had not acted so effectively."