August 11, 2005

The Great Brazilian Bank Heist

People have been coming up to me and asking about the big bank robbery in Brazil, so I figured I would post some information. You can click below for the CNN article.

UPDATE: Looks like they got 'em.

CNN.com - Police hunt suspects in $67 million Brazil heist - Aug 10, 2005

Police hunt suspects in $67 million Brazil heist

Thursday, August 11, 2005; Posted: 5:24 a.m. EDT (09:24 GMT)

SAO PAULO, Brazil (AP) -- Police in northeastern Brazil on Wednesday examined fingerprints and scoured through evidence left behind by the thieves who stole 156 million reals ($67.8 million) from a Central Bank vault in one of the world's biggest heists ever.

The amount taken surpassed the $65 million stolen in 1987 from the Knightbridge Safe Deposit Center in London.

The Brazil heist, however, was dwarfed by the theft of more than $900 million from the Iraq Central Bank in 2003. The thefts took place at the beginning of the U.S. invasion and were blamed on members of Saddam Hussein's family.

The money was stolen last weekend by about 10 men who spent three months digging an 80-meter-long (262-foot-long), 70-centimeter-high (28-inch-high) tunnel from a house they had rented near the bank in the city of Fortaleza, 2,500 kilometers (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 1.1-meter-thick (3.6-foot-thick) steel-reinforced concrete floor, said Luiz Wagner Mota Sales, one of the federal police officers investigating the heist.

Nearby, police found a white van likely used by the robbers that contained $2,325 held together by Central Bank wrappers.

Once inside the vault, the thieves broke into five containers filled with used 50-real ($22) notes, which were 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 that 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 during the past several years for masterminding bank holdups, kidnappings and violent prison uprisings in several parts of the country.

Police, Sales said, have not ruled out the possibility that the caper was masterminded by 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.

Posted by Andrew on August 11, 2005 12:27 PM.