British police are investigating an attempted robbery of £219 million (421m US dollar) at the London offices of the Japanese bank Sumitomo.

A gang hacked into computers at the bank in October 2004 and attempted to transfer the cash to 10 accounts around the world.

The theft has raised fears of the threat posed by organised gangs of computer hackers.

A spokeswoman for Britain's National High Tech Crime Unit confirmed there was an ongoing investigation into the attempted robbery but declined to give details.

Israeli police said they had arrested a 32-year-old man in connection with the crime.

Yaron Bolondi was arrested in a suburb near Tel Aviv under suspicion of being involved in an attempt to launder £20m.

Two British investigators have flown out to Israel.

"As a police investigation is under way right now, we'd like to refrain from commenting on the case," said Takashi Morita, spokesman for the Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Inc in Tokyo. "We have taken sufficient measures in terms of security and have not suffered any financial damage."

According to the Financial Times newspaper, the theft plan involved using keylogging software that would have enabled the thieves to track every button pressed on computer keyboards. From that they could learn account numbers, passwords and other sensitive information.

It was unclear whether the criminals gained physical access to Sumitomo's offices or whether they installed the keylogging software by hacking into the bank's computer system from outside.

PHOTO CAPTION

With his face covered, Israeli Yaron Bolondi, 32, is brought to a Tel Aviv Court Wednesday March 16, 2005. (AP)