Top 10 Most Intelligent Robberies and Heists ever

With technology, advanced security systems and today it is almost impossible to get away with robbery. Yet, have all this lead the way to a crime-free world? Clearly no. It is not primarily because these technologies are useless, but because criminals know the technology better than any others.  Today every snippet of news about heist or robberies serve as the examples for how robbery has evolved hand in hand with technology. Here you have a collection of stories of the top 10 robberies and heists in the world. Read the story of these daredevils and their professional brilliance. Mind it, their intelligence will leave you dumbstruck.

 

1. Central Bank of Iraq

Nearly one billion was robbed out of the Central Iraq bank in the year 2009 . And guess who did this piece of robbery? It was none other than Saddam Hussain. He had sent his son Qusay to withdraw money with a written note in his hand along with some men. The officials were completely taken by shock as Saddam`s men were  aware of every aspect of the bank. But it did not get too far as Saddam Hussain and his son were eventually killed by the US forces. The whereabouts of the money robbed are yet to be tracked down.

 

2. Banco Central heist

Considered among the largest bank heists recorded in the history, the incident occurred in the year 2005. The plan was perfectly executed by a gang of burglars on August 6^th, when they had tunneled their way into the bank’s vault from a property they had acquired recently near the bank. The group used sign boards indicating a landscaping company and used the opportunity for removing massive amount of dirt and rocks to keep their intentions hidden. The tunnel was well planned and built with plastic and wood and surprisingly well air conditioned too. The gang robbed over 70 million$ during this night. While 5 of them were arrested, not much of the money could be recovered.

 

3. Kent Securitas depot

The night of Febraury 22^nd, 2006 was one hell of a night for Kent Securitas Depot. A gang of robbers had sketched a perfect plan to loot the depot.They abducted the depot manager on his way back home along with his wife and son. They were held hostage with 14 other men in the depot while the gang grabbed every penny from the safe, estimated to be around 110 million. Till date few out of the many men involved have been imprisoned although only 40 million has been recovered.

 

4. The Graff diamonds Robbery

Till date, this has been recorded as the largest gem heists in the British history. The act happened on august 2009, when two men disguised as customers took home gems and jewels worth $65 million. They used hand guns to threaten the staffs in the store. The CCTV camera footage images were of no use as the men had used professional make up to disguise. Although they had scripted down a perfect escape route by switching cars, they left behind a cellphone which was eventually used to track them down.

 

5. Harry Winston Heist

A group of 4 men, out of which 3 dressed up as women entered the jewelry store and robbed a huge fortune of diamonds worth $108 million. The men were armed and herded the staffs and customers to one corner of the place, while the others broke open the showcases and stole the jewel pieces. Yet, no one has been arrested in connection with this incident due to lack of proper evidence.

 

6. The Antwerp Diamond center

Housing round 160 vaults for diamond brokers to safe their stones, Antwerp is among the largest diamond safes in Belgium. On the night of February 2003, 123 out of 160 vaults were emptied and the culprits ran with stones worth $100 million.  The culprits had planned the act since two years and had rented a commercial space in the same building as the bank in order to monitor the activities and alarm systems. They opened the vaults with copies of the original keys.

 

7. Gardener Museum Art heist

While the art stole your heart, some robbed the very pieces of art. Recorded among the biggest heists in the history, the Gardener museum heist happened in the year 1990. Two men dressed up as policemen convinced the security guards to their way up into the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston. Once the guards learned their real identity the men tied them down and took back with them 12 precious pieces of historical artworks worth $500 million. 

 

8. Theft by hostage

In the year 2009, a veteran bank manager Foster was forced to rob his own bank. The 50-year-old guy was abducted and injected with poison while on his way to work. He was then instructed to rob the bank in order to get the antidote from the gang. The group also threatened him to cause a bomb blast in the bank if he failed to obey their commands. Foster robbed around 40,000 AUD for the criminals who have not yet been tracked down.

 

9. Northern Bank

The bank is situated in Belfast , North Ireland. A sum of over $50 million was stolen from the bank in the year 2004. The night before the heist, two men dressed up as officials had visited the two bank official`s residence. They held the family hostage at gun points and instructed the officials to act by their orders. The officials were then sent to work the next day, where they stayed till after the bank closed and gave access to other members of the gang. The investigation is still in process with only one person convicted of money laundering.

 

10. The great train heist

The incident occurred back in the 1960`s at Bridego railway Bridge in England. A gang of 15 members headed by Bruce Reynolds robbed a post office train. The total amount robbed was estimated to be around 2.3 million pounds. They used fake signal lights to stop the train and knocked off the driver to gain access to the train. The criminals were later arrested by the police using their fingerprints.

 

In the world where we live, what is to be eliminated is somehow becoming what people fantasize about. Robbery is a crime we would curse when we go through the headlines. We criticize the security, judge the keepers, and of course offer our pity to the victims. Yet walk into a movie theater and you will see the crowd cheering and applauding this refined class of criminals, who suddenly become the hero. And the major reason why these scenes earn more applauds than criticism is how heroic and creative they are. So some of these criminals wanted to join this class of this refined criminals and thus happened some of the biggest robberies and heists across the world.