Biggs unwilling to leave

Press, Volume CXIV, Issue 33451, 5 February 1974, Page 13

Biggs unwilling to leave

(.VZ.P..1.-Eeutcr— Copyright) \ RIO DE JANEIRO, February 4. The captured British train robber. Ronald Biggs, appeared on television in Rio de Janeiro last night to tell the audience that he loved Brazil and did not want to leave.

Biggs made a 60-second appearance on a programme i filmed in his cell at Federal police headquarters with his ,26-year-old half-caste girl I friend, Raimunda, at his (side. Asked if he wanted to ■ stay in Brazil, Biggs, one of ithe gang that grabbed £2.6 I million in a mail train hold- , up in 1963, replied in flawless Portuguese: “Yes I i would. I love Brazil and I 'love Raimunda.” At this, his girl friend buried her head in her hands and sobbed; “I love him: I

lithe flight had been block- ; booked. 1J The runaway train robber s who dodged a world-wide 11 manhunt for more than eight slyears was being shunted (from gaol to gaol today as 3 'Brazilian police tried to enf | sure that he would not es- ;; cape with outside help. Even the two Scotland ( Yard detectives who arrested [ him and the British con- [ sulate admitted they had lost track of where 44-year-j old Biggs was being held. ; He was slipped out of I Federal police headquarters 'at the old Presidential palace in a private car on Saturday night and taken for interrogation to “an unknown destination.” Brazilian police sources told NZPA-Reuter that Biggs was being "grilled” around the clock by expert interrogators trying to discover if he had any criminal connections and how he obtained the false passport under which he lived in Brazil for almost four years. Police have not denied that Biggs is being held in the underground cells of the political police where he could be subjected to interrogation by experts using psychological methods. While Biggs was being questioned, Inspector Carlos Alberto Garcia, in charge of the case, was in the Federal , capital of Brasilia consulting 1 with Justice Ministry • officials on whether he should be released quickly. e Sources close to the Mint istry said that the Govern-,-iment favoured a quick release for “diplomatic reaa I sons” while Federal police, 31 smarting over their secon- ; dary role in the arrest, ; would like to keep Biggs in f Brazil for at least a week.

do not want these policemen 'to take him away to England.” But sources close to the Justice Ministry said that ‘the train robber, arrested by (British detectives on Friday, > could well be on board a ; British Caledonian flight to London tonight. ' The airline said that the i entire first-class section of