It was the second time in 6 months that the airport terminal had been breached. Due to the fact that they knew exactly which truck to target, police suspect an inside job.
Largest recordee assemble drivers#
In full view of many witnesses, they ordered the drivers out at gun-point and simply got in the truck and drove it away. (KLM is a major Dutch airline.) On February 25th, the thieves drove right up to a KLM truck that was carrying a large haul of uncut diamonds intended for delivery to Antwerp. 2 weeks prior to the robbery, 4 men stole a KLM cargo truck and KLM uniforms to divert suspicion until the last moment, so that they could move around the secure areas of the airport unhindered. $118 million is the estimate, as many of the stones were uncut, which make them much harder to value (and trace.) Whilst many of the other robberies on this list involve elegant planning and flawless execution, this was more akin to a smash and grab. This haul is the largest diamond heist in history. To read his version of events, outlining how they did it, go here.Ģ5th February 2005- Amsterdam: $118 million est.
He believes that he and his gang were used as part of a huge insurance fraud. Interestingly, Notarbartolo has claimed that a Jewish diamond merchant hired them for the heist and that they actually only stole roughly $20 million worth, with many of the deposit boxes already lying empty. The $100 million worth of gems has never been found and Notarbartolo is currently serving a 10 year sentence. Notarbartolo was caught after one of his accomplices failed to burn a garbage bag of evidence. The robbery was called the heist of the century, and even now the police can’t explain exactly how it was done. The vault was protected by 10 layers of security, including infrared heat detectors, Doppler radar, a magnetic field, a seismic sensor, and a lock with 100 million possible combinations. When it was finally time to move, they inserted fake tapes into the security cameras to cover their movements. He set up meetings and did small deals, no one ever suspecting a thing. They had rented office space in the building 3 years earlier, where Leonardo posed as an Italian diamond merchant to gain trust and credibility. The robbery was years in the making, with at least 4 people involved. Leonardo Notarbartolo, a 30 year career thief, was the leader of this stylish gang. This haul was so large that the thieves literally couldn’t carry all their booty out of the vault, but still managed to empty an impressive 123 of 189 deposit boxes.
This list was originally sent in as a top 20, but it has been broken up due to the size of the items – the second installment will appear in the future.ġ6th February 2003- Belgium: $100 million+Ĩ0% of the world’s uncut diamonds go through Antwerp, and don’t thieves know it! The city has seen its fair share of heists, but this one was incredible in both dollar value and the method with which it was executed.
Largest recordee assemble free#
Feel free to add any others I may have missed in the comments section. Incredibly, no one was killed during any of the below robberies (as far as I can tell), the mark of true professionals. I have roughly adjusted for inflation of some of the older robberies to show where they compare to some of the modern monster hauls. All values are in US$ or UK£, which bear in mind, are worth more than US dollars. Whether it be cash, jewels, art or anything else worth big bucks, you can bet there is someone, somewhere, planning on stealing it. Anyone caught in the act does not qualify for this list. The only criteria for entry on this list is that they must have gotten away with it, at least temporarily. Fortunately, most of us are sane enough not to let it get further than a thought. Most men have probably had a fantasy or two about pulling off a “once in a lifetime” kind of heist worth millions.
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