MORE LARGE ROBBERIES
Added on: 21st Jan 2015
CARLTON HOTEL ROBBERY
The Guinness Book of World Records says the world’s biggest
jewellery robbery took place in August 1994, when three thieves
burst into the most famous Carlton Hotel in Cannes.
Firing machine guns, they robbed the Carlton’s jewellery store
just as it was being closed. They made off with £30m in jewels.
It was later discovered that the rounds they had been firing
were in fact blanks.
BANCO CENTRAL BURGLARY AT FORTALEZA
A gang of robbers found their way inside the Banco Central vault,
thanks to a rented house that led them enter through a tunnel dug
underground. As expected of a high-profile bank in Brazil, the vault
was equipped with alarms and various sensors, which were successfully
disarmed. Over five containers of 50 Real Notes were stolen,
amounting to over an estimated $95 million.
ANTWERP DIAMOND HEIST
Leonardo Notarbartolo, along with several others, planned to rob
the Antwerp Diamond Centre in Belgium on February 16, 2003.
Since the centre is known for having so many diamonds within its
walls, the thieves apparently started planning three years before their
heist. They rented an office building where Notarbartolo posed as a
diamond merchant to establish ties with the company and its employees.
Known to be the “heist of the century”, the Italian thief and his crew were
able to pull off a $100 million diamond heist in spite of Doppler radar,
a magnetic field, a seismic sensor, infrared sensors, and even layers of
security to thwart them. Even to this day officials are still puzzled
as to how they did it.
HEIST AT HARRY’S
Back on December 5, 2008 a few hours before closing time one man
and three women came into the Harry Winston Jewellers to look at
some products. However, what seemed to be simple window-shopping
soon turned into a $108 million heist when the three “ladies” ripped off
their wigs and the four men proceeded with their robbery.
SCHIPHOL AIRPORT ROBBERY
Before the heist on 25th February, 2005, four men disguised
themselves as KLM Royal Dutch Airline employees by stealing
uniforms and a cargo truck to avoid suspicion. On the day of the heist,
they drove to a KLM truck that had just hauled in uncut diamonds due
to be delivered to Antwerp. With almost no hiccups whatsoever they
drove away with $118 million and pulled of the largest diamond heist
in history.
BRITISH BANK OF THE MIDDLE EAST RAID
In January 1976, £25 million was stolen from the Beirut branch of
The British Bank of the Middle East by a group associated with the
Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO). To get to the loot stores in the
bank, a PLO-affiliated group blasted through the wall of a Catholic
church next door to the bank. Over a two-day period, the robbers
loaded trucks with money, gold, jewels, and stocks and bonds.
The thieves were never caught.
E.G. BÜHRLE ART MUSEUM ROBBERY
On 11th February, 2008, three men in ski masks forced themselves
into the E.G. Bührle Art Museum in Zurich and took with them four
different paintings that were valued at nearly $139 million. All of them
were genuine 18th century art that included the works of Cezanne, Degas,
Monet, and Van Gogh. They were never recovered.
KNIGHTSBRIDGE SECURITY DEPOSIT ROBBERY
Known to be a famous criminal in Italy, Valerio Viccei moved from his
homeland to the UK in order to continue his devious activities along
with one of his accomplices. Their target, Knightsbridge Safe Deposit
Centre was known to have famous and popular clients and patrons.
He planned on being a customer there so that he could rent a
safe deposit box in order to gain access. On July 27th 1987 Valerio and
his companions subdued the manager and employees, the bank was
closed, Viccei called for backup to ransack as much cash as he could,
amounting to £60 million. He could have gotten away clean to
Latin America if he had not returned to get his beloved Ferrari.
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