Just like many of you I always like to imagine and experience what a real robbery looks like aside from what we see in the movies. I took the pleasure of surfing the internet to bring to you what I call my world created robbery series part 1 just for your reading pleasure...
The Banco Central burglary
at Fortaleza was the theft of about R$ 160 million from the vault of the Banco Central branch located in
Fortaleza , in the state of Ceará , Brazil.
It is one of the world's largest heists . In the aftermath of the burglary, of the 25 people thought to be involved, just eight had been arrested, and R$20 million recovered, up to
the end of 2005. In addition, several of the gang are thought to have been victims of kidnapping, and one, Luis Fernando Ribeiro, thought to have been the mastermind of the
operation, was killed by kidnappers after a ransom was paid. Arrests and recovery of the money, as well as kidnapping and murder of the perpetrators, have been ongoing, though most are still unaccounted for.
The burglary
On Saturday, August 6, 2005, a gang of burglars tunneled into the bank and removed five containers of 50- real notes, with an estimated value of R$164,755,150 (about 71.6 million USD at 2005 exchange rate) and
weighing about 3.5 tons.
The money was uninsured, a bank spokesperson stating that the risks were too small to justify the insurance premiums. The burglars managed to evade or disable the bank's internal alarms and sensors, and the burglary remained undiscovered until the bank opened for business the following Monday.
Banco Central is the Brazilian central bank, charged with control of the money supply .
The money in the vault was to be examined to decide whether it should be recirculated or destroyed. The bills were not numbered sequentially, making them almost impossible
to trace.
Planning
Three months before the burglary, the
criminals rented a commercial property in the centre of the city and tunneled 78 meters
(256 ft) beneath two city blocks to a position beneath the bank. The gang had renovated the property and put up a sign indicating it was a landscaping company selling both
natural and artificial grass as well as plants . Neighbours, who estimated that the gang consisted of between six and ten men, described how they had seen van-loads of soil being removed daily, but understood this to be a normal activity of the business.
The tunnel, being roughly 70 cm (2.3 ft) square and running 4 meters (13 ft) beneath the surface, was well-constructed: it was lined with wood
and plastic and had its own lighting and air circulating systems.
Execution
On the final weekend, the gang broke through 1.1 meters (3.6 ft) of steel - reinforced concrete to enter the bank vault. A.considerable amount of time would be required to remove and transport the money due to the volume and weight of the amount
that was taken.
Eight of the robbers were later arrested and the police recovered $9 million.
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