ROBBERS NAB $800,000 IN SPANISH PESETAS FROM JET.

Byline: Associated Press 

The captain's voice came over the cabin intercom as the airliner filled with vacationers taxied to a halt at the end of the runway.

``Ladies and gentlemen, stay calm,'' he said. ``Some men are interested in what we have on board, and since they are armed, we have to wait.''

In less than four minutes, a brazen gang of masked men made off with $800,000 in Spanish pesetas from the airplane's cargo hold, leaving behind only two empty vans and a pistol dropped on the tarmac.

The holdup of the Air France Europe plane with 172 people aboard, as recounted by passengers, crew and officials Wednesday, seemed like something out of a Hollywood thriller.

Four to six men waited in a parking lot Tuesday evening at the end of the runway at Perpignan, an airport serving a resort area of southern France near the Spanish border known for its mountains, beaches and countryside.

They were out of sight of the control tower and probably attracted little attention as the parking lot was frequented by aviation enthusiasts.

When the Airbus A320 landed on a flight from Paris, the men drove their two vans through the flimsy chain-link fence leading to the runway and blocked the jetliner's path as it taxied to a halt.

``At first I called the control tower to ask what they were doing,'' Capt. Vincent Roy told the television news network LCI on Wednesday. ``Then these masked and armed men came out, and I knew we were being held up.''

The men brandished guns and held up a banner demanding that the crew open a cargo hatch. To make clear they were serious, they fired a couple of shots at the cockpit, Roy said. One bullet hit the plane's nose, the television network TF1 reported.

``We turned off the motors, but since we can't reach the cargo hatch from inside the plane, it was up to them to open it themselves,'' Roy said.

The men went straight to a hatch on the side of the plane and quickly unloaded cash-filled canvas bags that were being transported by Brinks. Brinks later said the bags contained $800,000 worth of Spanish pesetas.

There was no panic inside the plane, passengers said.

After the pilot's announcement, the cabin crew moved the children aboard into the center aisle.

``Our concern was to get the passengers away from the windows so they wouldn't get hit by any stray bullets,'' Chief Flight Attendant Odile Fischer told a television interviewer.

``It was a flight full of vacationers and there were children traveling alone,'' she said. ``We tried to protect them first.''

None of the passengers or crew members was injured.

After removing the bags from the cargo hold, the gunmen drove to an airport gate and fled in a waiting car. Television footage showed a large blue van next to the gate with its side door left open, and a smaller white van. A pistol was left on the tarmac, police said.

Police set up roadblocks in search of four to six men, but found nothing.

Brinks said Wednesday that it transports large amounts of cash on the same flight every week, raising speculation that the gang might have had inside information. It was unclear for whom Brinks was transporting the money.