...and it happened in a tropical beach city I`ve visited a half dozen times. The actual tunnel they dug...I`ve run over that several times during runs and bike training. Harsh!
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/inte...tml?oref=login
SAO PAULO, Brazil (AP) -- Police in northeastern Brazil on Wednesday examined fingerprints and scoured through evidence left behind by thieves who stole $67.8 million from a Central Bank vault in one of the world's biggest heists ever.
Authorities said they were able to identify some of the thieves and were searching for them in surrounding states.
The amount taken surpassed the $65 million stolen in 1987 from the Knightbridge Safe Deposit Center in London, once recognized by experts as the planet's biggest robbery. The Brazil heist, however, was dwarfed by the theft of $900 million in U.S. bills plus as much as $100 million worth of euros from the Iraq Central Bank in 2003.
The money was stolen over the weekend by about 10 men who spent three months digging a tunnel -- about 260 feet long and 28 inches high -- from a house they'd rented near the bank in the city of Fortaleza, 1,550 miles northeast of Sao Paulo.
In the house, which had a sign saying it was a landscaping company, police found fingerprints on walls, doors, closets, shovels, pickaxes, saws, drills, blowtorches and other equipment used to dig the tunnel and cut through the vault's 3.6-foot-thick, steel-reinforced concrete floor, said Luiz Wagner Mota Sales, one of the federal police officers investigating the heist.
Once inside the vault, the thieves broke into five containers filled with used Brazilian currency notes -- the equivalent of $22 each -- which was apparently transported back through the tunnel by a pulley system attached to a large plastic barrel cut in half, Sales said.
The notes had been collected from local retail banks for inspection by Central Bank auditors. Those in good condition were to be returned to the banking system, while worn notes were to be incinerated.
In the house, police also found clothing and a large stock of food and water and several bags packed with part of the 100 tons of dirt experts estimate were excavated during the construction of the tunnel.
''We have been able to identify some of the thieves and we have extended our investigation to surrounding states where we think they may be hiding out,'' Sales said.
Asked if police had any idea how the thieves got the money out of the house or where it may be hidden, Sales said he could not comment ''so as not to jeopardize the investigations.''
Sales said police were looking into the possibility the heist was pulled off by the First Capital Command, one of Brazil's most notorious organized crime groups.
Better known by its Portuguese initials, PCC, the Sao Paulo-based group has gained notoriety over the past several years for masterminding bank holdups, kidnappings and violent prison uprisings in several parts of the country.
He said a few months ago police in Sao Paulo warned federal police of the imminence of a major heist in Fortaleza.
''We were warned that criminals were planning to rob an armored car company,'' Sales said. ''We were beginning to investigate when we were surprised by the Central Bank heist.''
The heist was similar to one pulled off last year in Sao Paulo in which thieves tunneled into a company that transports money for banks, making off with $1.6 million.
Police, Sales said, have not ruled out the possibility the Fortaleza and Sao Paulo heists were masterminded by the same man -- Moises Teixeira da Silva.
Da Silva, a convicted bank robber, escaped from prison in Sao Paulo in 2001 along with more than 100 other inmates by building a tunnel.
Believed to be a member of the PCC, da Silva is said to be the leader of a gang specializing in building tunnels to rob banks and armored car companies.
The name of his gang: ''Tatuzao'', Portuguese for Giant Armadillo.
Can't wait for some more articles & books to come out on this one, some pretty interesting reading came about from the heist in London.The amount taken surpassed the $65 million stolen in 1987 from the Knightbridge Safe Deposit Center in London, once recognized by experts as the planet's biggest robbery.
Damn. That's a lot of money.
World's biggest robbery . . . followed by GrandeDavid leaving the country.
Say, you living in the Dominion now by any chance?
Terrell Owens was in on it
God Knows he's Aching for all the money now...poor bas
Actually, I do live in the Dominion! That`s a pretty funny coincidence...I think.
*ring* *ring*
" o, Polícias do Sao Paolo? Quanto é a recompensa?"
^ Actually it happened in Fortaleza. But I get the joke!
I'm waiting for the movie to come out.
That's about the same amount of money the "second coming" will get through the duration of his contract.
Damn. Well, only 1550 miles away . . .^ Actually it happened in Fortaleza. But I get the joke!
And the joke probably was Google's translation into Portuguese
There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote
