Thieves have hijacked a security van at London's Heathrow airport and fled with an estimated $3 million in cash in the second such theft at the facility in slightly more than a month. 

Police say two men, described as Asians in their 20s, stopped the van in a secure area of the airport shortly after the driver picked up the cash from a South African Airways flight. They held the driver at knifepoint, forced him to drive out the security gate where they unloaded the cash into another vehicle and drove off. The driver was unhurt and called police. 

The latest robbery has raised doubts about the tightness of security at Heathrow despite new measures instituted at the airport, one of the world's busiest, after the September 11 terrorist attacks in the United States. 

Officials say the latest incident was strikingly similar to one early last month when thieves escaped with $6.5 million taken from a British Airways security van at Heathrow. Tuesday's robbery came just hours after police arrested one man in connection with the February theft. 

Following that incident British Transport Minister Stephen Byers and Home Minister David Blunkett demanded an urgent investigation of how such a theft could be possible during a period of heightened security. 

Some information for this report provided by AFP and AP. 

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