Three people have been charged with burglary following the arrest of eleven men suspected of stealing computer hardware from City banks earlier this week.

Some of the suspects are still been questioned by City of London and Metropolitan Police officers in relation to robberies of five major banks in the City and a host of internet firms. During a string of raids since March computer equipment worth an estimated £15 million was stolen, much of it the form of processors and memory from Sun servers.

Police are believed to have questioning the men about a break-in at Deutsche Bank on 23 November where 49 pieces of equipment was stolen worth £1.6 million and the bank lost a further £25 million in business due to the disruption.

According to a recent study by the Association of British Insurers, computer theft now costs British firms £1 billion a year

The most sought-after parts on the black market are made by Sun Microsystems, but kit from Compaq, Dell and Cisco is also highly prized in the digital underworld.
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