A band of armed thieves stole US $2.4 million worth of United States and Canadian dollars in just three minutes at Guanajuato International Airport Wednesday night, more than double the amount initially reported.

Between six and eight masked men in a truck disguised with a fake Aeroméxico logo breached security to enter the runway area, where they intercepted an airport service vehicle that was in the process of delivering the cash to a waiting plane.

The money had arrived at the airport in a PanAmericano armored truck at around 8:00pm Wednesday in order to be sent to Mexico City.

The armed men stole 14 of 18 bags of cash from a sole unarmed PanAmericano guard and two airport employees traveling across the tarmac in a luggage transport vehicle.

The thieves then loaded the money into their truck, drove to the perimeter of the airport property and knocked over a fence to escape.

Airport operator Grupo Aeroportuario del Pacífico said in a statement that the thieves entered the airport, carried out the brazen heist and left within a period of three minutes.

Shortly after the incident, police found the truck that was used in the robbery and recovered two of the stolen bags of cash. They later found two more bags of cash in another abandoned vehicle.

Federal and state police as well as the army conducted a joint search operation but there have been no arrests.

Federal Police yesterday set up checkpoints to inspect vehicles entering and leaving the Guanajuato airport as part of wider measures to bolster security at the facility.

Source: Milenio (sp)