"Behind a Brazen Brazilian Burglary"Washington Post (08/10/05) P. D1 ; Lehman, Stan
A group of highly sophisticated thieves was responsible for the $67.8 million bank robbery in Fortaleza, Brazil, this past weekend, according to Brazilian law enforcement authorities. The robbers spent three months constructing a 262-foot long tunnel that stretched from a rented house in the city to a nearby skyscraper housing a Central Bank vault, and the 28-inch high tunnel went under one of the city's busiest and noisiest roads, so no sounds of digging were heard. The tunnel was dug 13 feet beneath the vault's floor, and police say that the thieves apparently cut through the vault's steel-reinforced concrete floor, which was 3.5 feet thick, with a drill, electric saw, blowtorch, and bolt cutter. Once inside the vault, they broke into five containers that contained used Brazilian currency notes worth $22 apiece. Authorities have identified at least eight suspects, though no arrests have been made, and the bank is conducting its own investigation. "We are looking into several aspects of the crime, including why the cameras and motion detectors inside the vault did not function and if the thieves had any inside help," said a spokeswoman for the Central Bank. The thieves placed signs at the rental house indicating that the house was a landscaping company with plants for sale, but neighbors said they never saw the house doing any business. Authorities believe the group of thieves may be the same robbers who stole more than $1 million from a money-transport company last year in a similar scheme in which a 400-foot tunnel was dug from a nearby house to the company's bathroom.
A group of highly sophisticated thieves was responsible for the $67.8 million bank robbery in Fortaleza, Brazil, this past weekend, according to Brazilian law enforcement authorities. The robbers spent three months constructing a 262-foot long tunnel that stretched from a rented house in the city to a nearby skyscraper housing a Central Bank vault, and the 28-inch high tunnel went under one of the city's busiest and noisiest roads, so no sounds of digging were heard. The tunnel was dug 13 feet beneath the vault's floor, and police say that the thieves apparently cut through the vault's steel-reinforced concrete floor, which was 3.5 feet thick, with a drill, electric saw, blowtorch, and bolt cutter. Once inside the vault, they broke into five containers that contained used Brazilian currency notes worth $22 apiece. Authorities have identified at least eight suspects, though no arrests have been made, and the bank is conducting its own investigation. "We are looking into several aspects of the crime, including why the cameras and motion detectors inside the vault did not function and if the thieves had any inside help," said a spokeswoman for the Central Bank. The thieves placed signs at the rental house indicating that the house was a landscaping company with plants for sale, but neighbors said they never saw the house doing any business. Authorities believe the group of thieves may be the same robbers who stole more than $1 million from a money-transport company last year in a similar scheme in which a 400-foot tunnel was dug from a nearby house to the company's bathroom.
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