Here especially for you guys, is a list of top 6 most extraordinary and "out-of-the-box" heists.
6) D.B.COOPER HEIST:1971
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| Sketch of D.B. Cooper |
One of the biggest unsolved air piracy act in the American history which occurred on 24th November 1971 when an unidentified man but known by a common media miscommunication as D.B. Cooper alone hijacked a Boeing 727 aircraft. He lit a cigarette and ordered the air hostess Schaffner a bourbon and soda. Later he dropped a note in her purse, which she assumed his phone number. Cooper leaned toward her and whispered, "Miss, you'd better look at that note. I have a bomb."
The note was printed in neat, all-capital letters with a felt pen. It read, approximately, "I have a bomb in my briefcase. I will use it if necessary. I want you to sit next to me. You are being hijacked." Schaffner did as requested, then quietly asked to see the bomb. Cooper cracked open his briefcase long enough for her to glimpse eight red cylinders("four on top of four") attached to wires coated with red insulation, and a large cylindrical battery. After closing the briefcase, he dictated his demands: $200,000 in "negotiable American currency"; four parachutes (two primary and two reserve); and a fuel truck standing by in Seattle to refuel the aircraft upon arrival. Schaffner did as she was told. When she returned, he was wearing dark sunglasses. He then jumped out of the aircraft with a parachute somewhere in between Portland, Oregon and Seattle. Even after years of searches and on going FBI investigation, the heister has never been able to get located neither identified and nor the ransom money was recovered, although it is believed he parachuted to an uncertain fate and did not survive his risky jump. But his case has grown up to 60 volumes of case files till today and remains one of the most important cases in the Bureau.
The note was printed in neat, all-capital letters with a felt pen. It read, approximately, "I have a bomb in my briefcase. I will use it if necessary. I want you to sit next to me. You are being hijacked." Schaffner did as requested, then quietly asked to see the bomb. Cooper cracked open his briefcase long enough for her to glimpse eight red cylinders("four on top of four") attached to wires coated with red insulation, and a large cylindrical battery. After closing the briefcase, he dictated his demands: $200,000 in "negotiable American currency"; four parachutes (two primary and two reserve); and a fuel truck standing by in Seattle to refuel the aircraft upon arrival. Schaffner did as she was told. When she returned, he was wearing dark sunglasses. He then jumped out of the aircraft with a parachute somewhere in between Portland, Oregon and Seattle. Even after years of searches and on going FBI investigation, the heister has never been able to get located neither identified and nor the ransom money was recovered, although it is believed he parachuted to an uncertain fate and did not survive his risky jump. But his case has grown up to 60 volumes of case files till today and remains one of the most important cases in the Bureau.
5) BANCO CENTRAL HEIST:2005
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| Photo showing the tunnel |
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| Banco Central, Brazil |
Assumed to be one of the largest bank heist of history in the world, it took place in 6th August, 2005 in Fortaleza, Brazil as a part of sophisticated planning by a small gang of burglars. The gang rented a property near to the bank from where they made a tunnel of over 250 feet to the bank’s vault. These burglars used a signboard indicating that the property was a landscaping company and removed massive amounts of dirt and rocks. This helped them in dumping the dirt of the tunnel safely without suspicion. The tunnel was well built with plastic and wood having its own lighting and air conditioning system. It took them 3 months to dig the whole tunnel, after which finally they entered the bank’s vault, removed 5 containers of 50 real notes of estimated value of 70 million US Dollar or 165 million Brazilian reals. The robbers were even successful in disabling the bank’s internal alarms and sensors. Police arrested 5 men for this heist on 28th September along with 5.4$ million of money. Since then, only around 7$ million money has been recovered but rest of the 63$ million remains at loss. Also majority of suspects are still unknown.
4) The Antwerp Diamond Heist
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| Photo Illustration : Joe McKendry |
Around world’s 80 % of uncut diamonds are passed through the city of Antwerp, Belgium before getting sold in the market. The city has already been a witness of many big heists but this heist which occurred on the weekend of between 15th to 16th February in 2003, is dubbed as the “Heist of the Century”. It was because large amount of gold, diamonds, and jewellery got lifted from the Antwerp Diamond Centre whose estimated worth was more than 100$ million by a team of criminals called School of Turin
Leonardo Notarbartolo, 30 years old thief was the gang leader of all the robbers who rented an office 3 years earlier prior to the crime near the centre to gain credibility and trust. They inserted fake video tapes into the security cameras to by-pass the vault. Leonardo was soon tracked down and arrested and is serving 10 yrs of imprisonment because of a evidence being left out along with some gang members through their DNA left at the crime scene. In a journal, Leonardo claimed of being a part of insurance fraud attempt by a diamond merchant who hired him for the heist and they actually stole roughly 20$ million. But those 100$ million has disappeared since then and has not been found still.
3)GARDNER MUSEUM ART HEIST:1990
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| The Gardner Museum, Boston |
It is known to be one of the biggest heist in history where two thieves dressed as police officers entered the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston on 18th March, 1990 after convincing the security guards. But it was just after few minutes, the guards learnt that they were not real policemen after they were tied up and knocked down in the basement in spite of not having weapons. While proceeding to the other parts of museum, they were successful to steal around 12 selected artworks along with few sculptures and historical artefacts whose total worth was 500$ million and even tampered with the security cameras. But since then, neither the two thieves nor the artworks have been discovered and case remains a mysterious and unsolved one, making it one of the most successful heists of all time.
2)HARRY WINSTON HEIST:2008
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One of the most bold heists, the Harry Winston heist occurred in 2008 when group of 4 men 3 of whom were dressed as women, broke into an exclusive jewelry store just before the closing time and flew off with diamonds worth 108$ million. They took the employees and customers to a corner broke the display cases and filled up the suitcases with diamonds and ran away but without any firings. The stock of Harry Winston store fell down to 9% the next day after the heist and no culprit has been arrested since then due to lack of evidence. But a criminal group of jewelry heists has been under the suspicion of the police named Pink Panthers.
1) The Chelembra Bank Robbery
The four-man gang that robbed the North Malabar Gramin Bank in Chelembra, India was able to spend plenty of time preparing for their heist. In 2007, they noticed a restaurant was available for lease, and it was located directly beneath the bank. The gang paid to rent the space and stuck up a sign saying it was under renovation and would reopen on January 8, 2008. They also bought furniture for their renovation to avoid suspicion. Sadly for hungry locals, the restaurant never opened. Instead, the robbers cut through the floor of the bank on December 30 and made off with 80 million rupees (
) (around $1.3 million).
They cut into the bank’s strong room in the early hours of Sunday morning, so the robbery wasn't discovered for over a day. The gang planted evidence in the restaurant that made them appear to be supporters of Naxalism, a communist guerilla movement active in India. ( how intelligent ! it would've been better if they had used their brains in something else, legal ofc )
The thieves left numerous other false clues. A kilogram of stolen gold was left in a hotel room in Hyderabad, over 700 kilometers away. They also made phone calls from cities all over the country to overload investigators. Police got a break by looking for something suspicious in the two million phone calls. They found a secret number that the robbers had used to communicate and were able to trace the robbers to a house where they were hiding out.
By February 28, most of the treasure was recovered, and the robbers had all confessed. Three of the men were sentenced to 10 years in prison, and the fourth got five.
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| Additional Director General of Police (north zone) KS Jangpangi; Inspector-General (Thrissur range) P Vijayanand; and Superintendent of Police (Malappuram) P Vijayan addressing a press conference in Malappuram. The loot recovered from the accused is also displayed |
) (around $1.3 million).They cut into the bank’s strong room in the early hours of Sunday morning, so the robbery wasn't discovered for over a day. The gang planted evidence in the restaurant that made them appear to be supporters of Naxalism, a communist guerilla movement active in India. ( how intelligent ! it would've been better if they had used their brains in something else, legal ofc )
The thieves left numerous other false clues. A kilogram of stolen gold was left in a hotel room in Hyderabad, over 700 kilometers away. They also made phone calls from cities all over the country to overload investigators. Police got a break by looking for something suspicious in the two million phone calls. They found a secret number that the robbers had used to communicate and were able to trace the robbers to a house where they were hiding out.
By February 28, most of the treasure was recovered, and the robbers had all confessed. Three of the men were sentenced to 10 years in prison, and the fourth got five.
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