The gold was moved in a secret mission spanning several months (Picture: G4S)
The gold was moved in a secret mission spanning several months (Picture: G4S)

A secret mission to move £4 billion worth of gold bars hidden in London during the Second World War back to Poland has been successfully completed.

Using planes, helicopters, lorries and specialist police, 8,000 bars weighing 100 tons have been flown back home in secret.

Newly released pictures of the mission show how the gold was repatriated in eight night-time flights over the course of several months.

According to Bloomberg, the government wanted the gold to return in order to demonstrate the strength of the Polish economy.

The country’s gold reserves have been stored at the Bank of England since WWII, having been evacuated at the outbreak of the war amid fears they would fall into the hands of Nazis.

BILLIONS IN GOLD SECRETLY MOVED FROM LONDON TO POLAND for the Bank of England.
The gold bars are worth £4 billion (Picture: G4S)
BILLIONS IN GOLD SECRETLY MOVED FROM LONDON TO POLAND for the Bank of England.
Poland’s gold reserves were moved to the Bank of England during the Second World War (Picture: G4S)
BILLIONS IN GOLD SECRETLY MOVED FROM LONDON TO POLAND for the Bank of England.
The last mission to move the gold successfully finished on November 22 (Picture: G4S)

In a final trip made on November 22, lorries carrying 20 crates filled with gold bars were moved from a secret location in northwest London to an unnamed airport.

A police escort accompanied the transfer as well as an overhead helicopter.

After arriving at the airport, the bars were strapped inside a Boeing 737 transport plane and flown to two locations in Poland.

The crates were met on the other side by an elite police unit and loaded on to three more armoured trucks before being taken to vaults belonging to Poland’s national bank in undisclosed locations.

There, everything was counted and measured to ensure nothing was missing.

BILLIONS IN GOLD SECRETLY MOVED FROM LONDON TO POLAND for the Bank of England.
The repatriation involved specialist police, helicopters and armoured cars (Picture: G4S)
BILLIONS IN GOLD SECRETLY MOVED FROM LONDON TO POLAND for the Bank of England.
Paul Holt, a general manager for G4Si, said: ‘It was all very secretive, and extremely important it was done well’ (Picture: G4S)

Security firm G4S International Logistics were given the mammoth task of transporting the gold – described as one of the biggest movements of gold between banks in the world.

Paul Holt, a general manager for G4Si, said: ‘It was all very secretive, and extremely important it was done well.’

Poland’s central bank Governor Adam Glapinski said the mission was a success and that the 100 tons of Polish gold was now securely locked away.

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