Remember ‘Ocean’s Trilogy’ or ‘The Italian Job’? Apart from the slick action sequences and the awesome star cast, the thing which struck us the most in these movies was the ways in which the protagonists pulled off robberies. Turns out thieves in real life too have used pretty innovative and unusual methods to pull off some of the most epic robberies ever.
Let’s have a look,
1. French “Vacuum gang”, used vacuum cleaners to suck out cash
This gang, based in France used a very unconventional tool to clear out cash from safes. And no, it’s not some super sophisticated cutting edge machine, it is your good old vacuum cleaner. That’s right, these guys drilled holes into the pneumatic tubes used in the supermarkets to carry cash from one end to another and sucked out the cash using a vacuum cleaner. They have cleared out more than $800,000 in total. Though several footages of store’s CCTV cameras have caught them in action, these clever thieves still remain at large.
2. Chelembra bank robbery in Kerala which was inspired by Bollywood movie Dhoom
Chelembra Bank Robbery is considered to be one of the biggest bank heists in Kerala. The robbery took place at Malappuram district of Kerala in December 2007. The robbers got away with 80 kg of gold and about Rs. 50,00,000 in cash, total worth up to Rs. 8 Crores. What’s more interesting is the way in which the robbery was pulled off.
The Heist:
- The bank was on the second floor of a building.
- The perpetrators rented a restaurant on the ground floor of the building. They closed the restaurant and put a sign outside saying that it was “under renovation”. They even bought construction materials to make it look convincing.
- They used the fake restaurant cover to drill up a hole in the ceiling, which allowed them to access the strong room of the bank where the safes were kept.
- They opened the safes using gas cutting tools and took away the goods kept inside.
Eventually, the gang and its leader were arrested in February 2008. The leader confessed to committing the crime and said that their method of the heist was inspired by the Bollywood movie, Dhoom.
3. Societe General Bank Robbery
The mastermind behind this operation, Albert Spaggiari was the owner of a photographic studio living in Nice, France. He apparently grew bored of his middle-class life and planned this heist.
The Heist:
- He decided to break in the bank vault by digging underneath from a nearby sewer system.
- Spaggiari then recruited a group of professional gangsters to help him dig the tunnel which took around 2 months to complete.
- On the Bastille Day festival when the bank was closed for a long weekend, the gang broke into the vault and stole over 60 million francs worth of money, securities and other valuables.
- When the robbery was discovered, the following message was found on the vault wall: “sans armes, ni maine, ni violence” which is translated as: “without weapons, nor hatred, nor violence”.
- The police initially had no clue of the heist, but later Spaggiari and his gang were ratted out by a member of their own gang. Spaggiari was caught, but he managed to escape the courthouse.
After that incident, he was never caught and the loot from the heist was never found.
4. Pink Panthers stealing diamond from a jeweler in London
“The Pink Panthers” is a name given by Interpol to one of the most infamous jewel thief networks ever. They are considered to be the perpetrators of some of the most “glamorous” and audacious heists ever. According to law enforcement agencies, they are responsible for robberies worth more than $500 million. The group came to attention in 1993, when they stole a £500,000 diamond from a jeweler in London. The thieves hid the diamond in a jar of face cream imitating an act from the film “Return of the Pink Panther”, after this they earned their nickname. In another case of daring robbery, they used Mission Impossible style prosthetic makeup to disguise themselves and stole goods over $100 million from a jewelry store in Paris.
5. Banco Central burglary at Fortaleza, Brazil- One of the biggest robberies ever
This robbery is considered to be one of the biggest bank heists ever. On the weekend of August 6, 2005, a gang of burglars tunneled into the bank and stole an estimated $70 million. The burglars managed to disable the bank’s internal alarms and sensors, and the burglary remained undiscovered until the bank opened for business.
The Heist:
- The actual planning of the burglary began 3 months before the robbery took place. Perpetrators rented a commercial property in the centre of the city and tunneled around 256 ft beneath two city blocks to a position beneath the bank.
- The gang members had disguised themselves as the members of a landscaping company which avoided suspicion from the neighbours.
- The tunnel dug by them was really well-constructed and was lined with wood and plastic. It even had its own lighting and air circulating systems.
- On the weekend on which the robbery was committed, the gang broke through 1.1 meters (3.6 ft) of reinforced concrete to enter the bank vault.
In 2007, Márcio Rafael Pierre, another of the alleged masterminds, was arrested in Sao Paulo. The police have also been able to make some other people allegedly associated with the robbery but has been able to recover only about R$8.93 million worth of cash.
6. The Stopwatch gang
The stopwatch gang was the name given to the a gang consisting of 3 Canadian citizens. This gang was famous for its speedy heists and brilliant planning of their jobs. They were known for robbing banks in 90 seconds or less and getting away with no trace. The group got nicknamed ‘The Stopwatch Gang’ by the FBI because the gang leader was seen wearing a stopwatch around his neck while on the job.
7. Antwerp diamond heist, also named as “The heist of the century”
The Antwerp diamond heist is dubbed as one of the largest diamond heists in history. Goods worth more than $100 Million (approximately Rs. 6,600 crores) were stolen from the Antwerp Diamond Centre in Antwerp, Belgium in Feb 2003. The diamond vault was located 2 floors below the diamond centre and was protected by multiple security measures, in fact, the Antwerp diamond centre was considered as one of the most secure buildings in the world.
The Heist:
- The alleged leader of the gang that pulled off the heist, Leonardo Notarbartolo had rented an office in the diamond centre two and a half years prior to the robbery. It included a safe deposit box located in the vault beneath the building. It also gave him 24-hour access to the building.
- On the day of the robbery, Leonardo remained hidden in the vault after the security gates were locked. It facilitated the other members to gain entry inside.
- The light detector and motion detectors were already disabled by the gang.
- After gaining entry in the vault, the gang had to crack through three layers of additional security including a fail-safe magnetic alarm. After cracking all the security measures they gained entry into the vault and stole diamonds worth more than $100 million
- After the robbery, Notarbartolo and his team stole the security footage to conceal their identities.
The leader Leonardo was arrested by police on the basis of DNA evidence gathered from a half eaten sandwich found near the crime scene. The other perpetrators and the diamonds were never found.
Let’s just hope that movies don’t inspire any more such cases.