Literally every down here who have read this article must have seen some films related to robbery of any kind of heists. To add to it the kinds of stunts and tricks they play on screen must have blown you off completely. Just being true for an instance, everyone must have felt an urge to mastermind a heist after watching the Oceans series or must have felt the adrenaline rush after getting on with the gears with the Fast and The Furious. Speaking of truth, this is something that looks great on the silver screen but most of us will not dare doing something in broad daylight. Today, We are going to tell you 10 instances of largest robberies in history when real people imagined such stuff and in reality pulled them off.
1. Harry Winston, 5th December 2008-Paris, France: $108 million
On 5th December in the year 2008, four armed men entered a jewellery store around an hour before official closing time and with the help of the look of guns robbed away gold of about $108 million. The loss was not just limited to the Jewels as the stock prices fell by 9% for Mr. Harry Winston the next day the news went out. Interestingly the store was robbed a year ago also but still Mr. Winston did not bother keeping armed guards. Overall 25 people have been arrested for this crime.
2. Antwerp Diamond Center, 16th February 2003- Belgium: $100 million+
The story of this heist is nothing less than that of a film with the robbers making years of planning and then a perfect execution. But still since this is a real incident, the interesting part about the heist is that how did Leonardo Notarbartolo, the main mastermind actually goes through such a strong protection that the building had. There were 189 vaults filled with gems and 129 were made empty. Nobody actually found anything in regard with the gems. Leonardo Notarbartolo is presently serving a sentence of 10 years in jail. According to him, someone played a double game with them because according to him when they reached the vault most of the boxes were already empty.
3. United California Bank Robbery, 24th March 1972- USA: $30 million EST.
The intensity of this heist can be very well realized when one comes to know that the heist actually happened in the year 1972 when a group of 7 members robbed a bank in California. Just imagine the scenario that during those times without the facilities stealing $30 million deserves some credit. Most of the people have either been caught by the FBI or are dead. Phil Christopher, a partner in crime has also jotted down a book on the incident.
4. Schiphol Airport Heist, 25th February 2005- Amsterdam: $118 million EST.
Most of the heists involve a great deal of planning and skill but this is something that required a truck, a few uniform of a Dutch airline company and guns. They drove straight in front of the truck and then in view of thousands of people pointed guns at the drivers of another truck carrying diamonds and other gems. They brought down the drivers and then simply drove away. Many arrests have been made in regard to this case but no one is actually sure of what happened to the gems or whether the people arrested are the main culprits or not?
5. British Bank of the Middle East, 20th January, 1976- Beirut, Lebanon: £25 million
This heist was probably actually done for a good cause but nonetheless a heist is a heist. When the country of Lebanon was in the middle of a civil war, the armed men of Yasser Arafat broke into many banks to loot money to fuel the movement. They stole approximately around £25 million over the course of two days through a breach in the wall. The plan was arguably the simplest one when considering the amount of money stolen. Later this money was made clean and then used for the good of the people of Lebanon. The bank they broke into being the British Bank of the Middle East.
6. Knightsbridge Security Deposit, 12th July 1987-UK: £60 million
Valerio Viccei was one of the top most wanted people of Italy and that is when he decided to shift the venue of robberies. He came to England and then settled down there. During this time he opened a security vault in the most posh bank of England and on one day with the wish of inspecting the locker that he had, he went into the locker room and then got the better of the manager and the guards. Then he and his partner plundered all the wealth. The man with such mind died in the year 2000 during a gunfight with the Italian Police.
7. Baghdad Bank Robbery, 12th July 2007- Baghdad, Iraq: $282 million
Not a lot is known about the robbery but of whatever is known to us is that one day the employees walk in only to find that all the money has been looted away and nothing is left. It was suspected that the three guards of the bank were the main culprits but nothing has been done against them. Nobody has been arrested neither has been the money discovered. The main question that arises is the fact that why did the bank have such amount of cash in there at all?
8. Boston Museum, 18th March 1990- Boston, USA: $300 million
This is not about banks and neither about the money. This heist is about amateur guards, amateur thieves and paintings worth more than $300 million. In the year 1990, two men armed up as police walked into a museum and handcuffed the two guards and then spent loads of time in selecting 12 pieces of art that is worth more than $300 million. Interesting they left behind many more valuable paintings. But nothing was heard off since then again. They never tried to sell the painting nor did try to return them. It has been said that the person returning the paintings will be given a prize of $5 million and will be saved from prosecution.
9. City Bonds Robbery, 2nd May 1990- London, UK: £292 million
This was probably the only heist in the history of the world where the thieves also did not know that they were going to be so much richer. In the year 1990, a 58 year old messenger was taken in by a group of thieves who operated with knives. They might just have wished for a few thousand bucks at the most but ended up with bearing bonds worth £292 million. One person had been caught and one was found dead but the rest disappeared as nothing ever actually happened.
10. Central Bank of Iraq, 18th March 2003- Baghdad, Iraq: $1 billion
This the largest heist when compared to the money that is being talked off. Saddam Hussein sent his son to take out a bank in Baghdad from where he looted almost around $1 Billion that was probably for the fight that he was putting in. After that incident, the US troops started bombing the area and Mr. Hussein was killed a few days later. Around $650 were found out in the walls the house and the remaining $350 million is considered as an experimental loss in the accounts of the United States army.