Robbing a bank is considered a very heroic thing across the world despite it is one of the illegal and extreme actions. Nowadays many films and series portrayed heists in a very heroic gesture. As a result, the audience started believing bank robbery a valiant task to do.
Movies like Inside Man, The Bank Job, Fast Five, Baby Driver and so on portrayed the bank robbery in a very heroic way. Besides, the Spanish drama, Money Heist, formally known as ‘La Casa de Papel’, created a positive vibe for the bank robbers among its audience.
Considering the fast-paced technological development and security in today’s world, it is very uncommon to believe that bank heists are happening. But surprisingly, large-sum bank robberies are still occurring around the world.
MoneyWise, an online finance publication, in one of their reports, listed the ten biggest bank robberies in history. By going through the report, it can be discovered that heist is not as easy as it appears in the movies or dramas.
The Dunbar Armored robbery
Stolen: $18.9 Million
With the help of the ‘safety inspector’ of the Dunbar Armored, six men pulled off the biggest money heist in the history of the United States in 1997. Allen Pace, leader of the heist was a safety inspector in the Dunbar Armored. He is considered as one of the worst employees the company ever had.
Being a safety inspector, Allen Pace had a clear idea about the security cameras at the Dunbar facility in Los Angeles. Following these, he recruited five of his childhood friends to help him in the robbery.
At the time of lunch break, they assaulted two guards and loaded $18.9 million dollars.
They escaped and almost successfully got away with it. However, one of them lent some of the stolen cash to a friend without removing the original cash straps.
The United California Bank heist
Stolen: $30 million
A gang of six robbers led by Amil Dinsio, a professional criminal from Ohio, conducted a heist in the United California bank in 1972. They heard that the then US President Richard Nixon kept a multimillion-dollar slush fund in the bank.
They rented a house in the town to make the plan for robbery. Finally, they implemented their plan and stole $30 million worth of cash and valuables, and fled away.
After ages, police eventually identified them following their fingerprints found inside their townhouse’s dishwasher and a generous tip they’d given a taxi driver.
The British Bank of the Middle East robbery
Stolen: Around $50 million
During the midst of the civil war in Lebanon in 1976, a group of robbers had decided to heist the British Bank of the Middle East.
It is considered one of the most brazen robberies of all time as the robbers used explosives to break the wall of a Catholic church and entered the neighboring British Bank of the Middle East. A professional locksmith was there with the robbers to break the vault.
They robbed a total of $44.5 million in cash, gold bars, stocks, jewels and other valuable things. So far none of them have been identified and no one was detained.
The Northern Bank robbery
Stolen: $41 million
These groups of robbers take some different steps to implement the biggest bank robbery in Irish history.
The robbers, dressed as police officers, entered the homes of two bank managers in Belfast, Northern Ireland, just the week before Christmas 2004. They hostage the family members of the bank managers and asked the managers to go to the bank normally the very next day.
Two bank managers then allowed them to enter the bank when the workday ended. They robbed about 26.5 million British pounds and additional foreign currencies.
Only one person has been arrested for money laundering in the case while the case is still unsolved.
The case is still unsolved and so far, only one person has been arrested, for money laundering.
The Brink’s-Mat burglary
Stolen: $41 million
Anthony Black, a security guard of the Brink’s-Mat, let a group of robbers into the company’s warehouse at London’s Heathrow Airport on the morning of the heist in 1983. Then the robbers tied up other security guards.
All on a sudden, the crew realized the warehouse is full of gold and diamonds alongside money. They looted $41 million from the warehouse and wished the guards a merry Christmas in their way of leaving.
Over the years, most of the robbers involved in the heist were caught by the police and security forces.
The Banco Central burglary
Stolen: $71.6 million
The Banco Central heist in Brazil’s Fortaleza in 2005 was once recognized by the Guinness Book of World Records as the world’s greatest bank robbery.
A total of 25 members spent around three months digging a 256-foot tunnel that led up through the bank’s vault floor.
They robbed numerous containers that held 160 million Brazilian real worth $71.6 million in 2005.
A total of 20 million Brazilian real was recovered while only eight of the robbers were arrested in the incident.
The Securitas depot robbery
Stolen: $83 million
The Securitas depot robbery at a security services company’s warehouse in Kent in 2006 is the largest cash robbery in British history. A man from the inside filmed the interior of the Securitas depot.
They kidnapped the branch manager and held his family hostage by wearing elaborate masks designed by an artist. They took the branch manager inside the warehouse and forced him to give them access to the cash cages.
They robbed around $83 million from there.
Some of the robbers got caught despite their clever disguises and the makeup artist became a key witness in the case.
The Knightsbridge Security Deposit robbery
Stolen: $97 million
Valerio Viccei and one of his assistants walked into a bank and asked to rent a safe deposit box. They pulled their guns and overpowered the bank manager and guards when the assigned men showed them the vault.
After hanging a ‘closed’ sign on a bank door, they broke into many safe deposit boxes which were full of cash and valuables.
Valerio Viccei, who was wanted for over 50 armed robberies in Italy, committed that robbery at Knightsbridge Security Deposit in London in 1987.
Viccei then fled away to South America but got arrested when he returned to England.
The Dar Es Salaam Bank heist
Stolen: $282 million
The Dar Es Salaam Bank heist in 2007 is one of the most mysterious robberies in history for many reasons. First of all, why the bank had so much American cash on hand is still unclear. And how the robbers entered the city by crossing various checkpoints across Baghdad.
Nowadays very few details are known about the robbery at Dar Es Salaam Bank. The government officials assumed that the robbers were assisted by several bank guards.
Besides, the government suspected the robbers also had connections with the local police who allowed them to pass through many checkpoints.
They robbed around $282 million from the Dar Es Salaam Bank. However, no further information has been released about the heist.
The Central Bank of Iraq robbery
Stolen: Over $920 million
The largest bank heist in history happened in Baghdad, Iraq. It is believed that the mastermind of the heist was Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein.
In 2003, just a day before the Iraq War, Saddam Hussein sent three large trucks to the Central Bank. His son Qusay Hussein was there with a handwritten note asking to withdraw nearly $1 billion to keep it away from enemy hands. More than $920 million money was loaded into the trucks and driven away.
By conducting raids, most of the cash was recovered. But American soldiers, tasked with counting the illicit loot, made off with hundreds of thousands of dollars for their families. A total of 35 of them got caught.
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