Getting hitched is an expensive affair!
During a diamond exhibition at the Millennium Dome in London, a group of robbers almost pulled off one of the largest and certainly most cinematic heists in history. Their plan included everything from heavy machinery, to smoke bombs, to a getaway boat.
After successfully breaching the security glass that separated the thieves from the diamonds and causing pandemonium within the showroom, police officers who had already been tipped off about the robbery and were waiting disguised as visitors and Dome employees swooped in on the robbers and foiled their plans.
Once inside, the thieves looted the museum of numerous royal possessions and artifacts, such as the Dresden White Diamond and countless other precious gems and jewelry, adding up to a loosely estimated value of just shy of US$1 billion, making it possibly the largest jewelry heist in history.
The robbery itself was flawless, with no evidence left behind to point the authorities towards any leads. But two years later, one of the robbers accidentally handed a real estate agent a stack of bills still wrapped in its original currency straps. Shortly afterwards, all of the robbers were arrested and put on trial.
During the early hours of November 25, 2019, a group of robbers broke into the Green Vault Museum in Dresden, Germany, a former royal palace and one of the oldest museums in Europe, through a first floor window.
In 2015, six men carried out what was at the time called the biggest bank robbery in England's history. Over Easter weekend, part of the crew gained access to London's Hatton Garden safety deposit facility through an elevator shaft, and drilled through the 20-inch (50-cm) thick vault walls.
A daring daylight heist took place during the weekend of the annual Cannes Film Festival in France in 2013. The target was a presentation of precious gems and jewelry owned by Israeli billionaire Lev Leviev being shown at the Carlton Hotel.
The heist, pulled off by just one person who was suspected to be linked to the infamous Pink Panthers heist crew, saw more than US$145 million worth of jewelry go missing. Neither the jewelry nor the thief have been recovered or caught to this day.
The team of robbers almost got away clean and managed to flee California, but the police eventually caught up to them after finding fingerprints in the townhouse used as the base of operations.
One of the largest gemstone and jewelry heists in history occurred at Paris' Harry Winston store, in 2008. Four men dressed in wigs and dresses entered the store in broad daylight and quickly rounded up the customers and employees into a corner before completely clearing the showroom of its jewelry, the total value of which was estimated to be around US$107 million.
The robbery, thought to be planned and executed by the Pink Panthers robbery group, was executed with immaculate precision. The expert thieves were in and out of the store in less than 20 minutes, and not a single piece of jewelry has been recovered, and no arrests have been made in connection to the heist.
One of the largest heists in history was four years in the making and occurred in February 2003 in Antwerp, Belgium, the diamond capital of the world.
In another heist suspected to be the work of the Pink Panthers, two men entered the Graff Diamonds store in London and, after threatening staff and customers, made off with around US$65 million.
US$21.2 million in cash and valuables were taken out of the safety deposit boxes inside the vault. Each member involved, all well over 40 years old, was eventually arrested over the course of the next three years.
The two men (pictured) made no attempt to hide their identity from the store's many cameras, leading authorities to believe that they used cosmetic makeup to hide their appearances. While the thieves made a successful getaway, a cell phone left in one of the escape cars led to the arrest of the two robbers and two other involved individuals.
In 1972, seven thieves from Ohio assembled in the quiet coastal city of Laguna Niguel, California. After dynamiting their way into the vault of a local United California bank, the team made off with US$31 million in cash, gold, and other valuables.
A bank in Westminster, England, witnessed a deceptively simple and, at first, wildly successful armed robbery in 1987. Two men asked to open a safe deposit box with the bank, and after being shown to the deposit room, turned guns on the bank staff while accomplices who came in just after them looted the safe deposit boxes of US$97 million.
Leading up to the robbery, the team posed as a landscaping company and dug a 265-foot (81-m) tunnel that ended underneath the bank's vault. Only eight of the 25 members have been arrested since the robbery in 2005, and only a small fraction of the stolen money has been recovered.
Valerio Viccei (pictured), the mastermind behind the robbery who was already wanted in Italy for over 50 armed robberies, escaped to South America, but was caught during a trip back to London to arrange for his Ferrari to be shipped across the sea.
Carried out by the School of Turin, a small, non-violent heist group snuck past numerous state-of-the-art security systems, forged vault keys, and replaced security footage in order to make away with US$118 million. Eventually, DNA evidence left behind led to the arrest of the mastermind and other perpetrators, but the stolen diamonds have never been found.
A daring heist on the tarmac of Brussels Airport occurred on February 18, 2013 when eight individuals armed with guns stole US$50 million worth of uncut and polished diamonds off of a plane bound for Switzerland.
The 2007 Amro Bank heist in Antwerp, Belgium, proves that patience pays off. For a whole year, a man using the alias Carlos Flomembaum posed as a friendly diamond trader and become a loved and trusted member of his local bank, and even went so far as to bring the bank employees chocolate on a number of occasions.
The thieves ditched their getaway van and set it on fire to get rid of any DNA evidence they might have left behind. Only one of the eight robbers, Marc Bertoldi, believed to be the brains of the operation, was caught and imprisoned.
The largest cash robbery in the history of the United States took place on September 12, 1997, when a regional safety inspector at a Los Angeles Dunbar Armored depot made off with US$18.9 million with the help of five friends.
A Fortaleza branch of the Central Bank of Brazil was the victim of the biggest bank robbery in Brazilian history. The heist, orchestrated and pulled off by a team of around 25 people, led to the loss of US$71.6 million.
The biggest bank robbery on the island of Ireland took place the week before Christmas in 2004 in Belfast, Northern Ireland. US$41 million was stolen, and still none of it has been recovered.
Saddam Hussein sent his son to the Central Bank of Iraq in Baghdad to collect the money, which was transferred by three massive trucks in the dark hours of the morning. The amount stolen was nearly a quarter of Iraq's total reserve.
The robbers were let in at closing time by the bank employees, whose families had been threatened the day before, and once the looting was finished, the team made a successful getaway. Only one person, indirectly involved in helping the thieves launder their stolen cash, has been arrested.
Sources: (MoneyWise) (CNN) (Tatler)
Eventually, the man was given his own personal key to the vault that held all of the bank's diamonds. In March 2007, the thief simply walked in using his key and walked back out with US$28 million in diamonds. There has been no sign of the man since!
The largest bank robbery in history happened on March 18, 2003, one day before the US invasion of Iraq. The son of Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, Qusay Hussein, was in charge of the robbery that resulted in the disappearance of US$920 million.
Heist and bank robbery movies stimulate our imagination with ideas of espionage and intrigue, crawling under lasers and fooling security guards. While the movies are all fun and games, it's easy to forget that high-profile, high-risk heists and robberies happen in the real world, too. Whether carried out by lone wolves or shadowy organizations like the Pink Panthers, the stories about the most audacious robberies in history remind us that around the world, walking through the same streets that we do, are criminal masterminds who risk everything in the name of greed and glory.
Intrigued? Read on to learn more about the most daring robberies in history.
The most notorious robberies in history
Dollars, diamonds, and dangerous characters
LIFESTYLE Crime
Heist and bank robbery movies stimulate our imagination with ideas of espionage and intrigue, crawling under lasers and fooling security guards. While the movies are all fun and games, it's easy to forget that high-profile, high-risk heists and robberies happen in the real world, too. Whether carried out by lone wolves or shadowy organizations like the Pink Panthers, the stories about the most audacious robberies in history remind us that around the world, walking through the same streets that we do, are criminal masterminds who risk everything in the name of greed and glory.
Intrigued? Read on to learn more about the most daring robberies in history.