$68 million stolen in Brazil's biggest bank heist

CNN ^ | Tuesday, August 9, 2005 | CNN

[Cowman]

RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil (Reuters) -- Thieves tunneled into a bank in northeastern Brazil and stole $68 million, the biggest bank heist in the nation's history, police said on Monday.

"It's something you see in the movies. They dug a tunnel ... that goes underneath two (city) blocks. They've been digging for three months," police investigator Francisco Queiroga told Reuters by telephone. The thieves broke into a branch of the central bank in the northeastern state of Ceara over the weekend and removed 156 million reais ($68 million). The theft was not discovered until Monday morning because the bank was closed.

"The tunnel was dug right underneath the vault," Queiroga said. "We've never heard of so much money being stolen from a bank in Brazil." Queiroga and the central bank said the tunnel was 200 meters (650 feet) long, but federal police who took over the case from local investigators said in a statement later it measured 80 meters (260 feet).

The tunnel, which started in a house rented by the gang, was reinforced with wood and plastic and had electric light. Police said the thieves had perforated the concrete floor of the vault to get in, but motion sensors inside did not go off. Federal police also said it was the biggest known heist in Brazil. They suspect that between six and 10 people did the job. (snip)

[Cowman]

HMMM...

What ever happened to the little french guy from Hogan's Heroes?

[Recon Dad]

They must have watched "Ladykillers"!

[kjam22]

68 million for 3 months work. That's not bad pay :)

[Preachin']

I am not attempting to be funny, but I hope that they weren't Muslim extremists.

[Quilla]

Louis Lebeau aka Robert Clary.

[Mr. Jeeves]

I am not attempting to be funny, but I hope that they weren't Muslim extremists.

The job required patience, exacting precision work, physical labor, engineering skill, working toward a long-term goal, and the ability to keep quiet and avoid public notice.

Six reasons why the perpetrators were not Muslim extremists. ;)

[ClearCase_guy]

The headline exaggerates. I've counted it twice, and the total comes to 67,987,0034.

[Preachin']

"The job required patience, exacting precision work, physical labor, engineering skill, working toward a long-term goal, and the ability to keep quiet and avoid public notice."

You don't see any of those traits in the execution of the 9/11 tragedy?

[Youngman442002]

It probably was a government job...city employees...they are very corrupt down there....

[Mr. Jeeves]

You don't see any of those traits in the execution of the 9/11 tragedy?

Have you read the stupid, impulsive things Atta said and did in Florida? If our government collectively had half a brain he would have been rotting under a jail long before 9/11 ever happened. The only skills involved were the abilities to use a box cutter and to steer a passenger jet for a few minutes.

The planners weren't geniuses - they just took advantage of the political correctness that has infested our bureaucracy. That bunch could never have robbed a bank in the manner described in the article.

[Preachin']

"The planners weren't geniuses"

I never said that they were. But they were smart enough to get away with it.

It may be that made mistakes along the way, but were smart enough to use our own mistakes against us (i.e., the political correctness of our own society).

The guys who dug the tunnel weren't geniuses, either. They just planned the work and worked the plan: Just like the 9/11 jerks.