Top 5 Most Outrageous Robberies In History

Everyone wants to get money. And there are various different ways to do so. You could decide to work for it, start a business, gamble, play the lottery or if you are lucky, you are simply born into wealth. However, since time immemorial, people have done some outrageous things to get wealthy, including robbery. While some people – thieves have had humorously failed attempts at stealing cash, a few others have pulled of what can only be described as shocking and somewhat outrageous robberies. Here is a list of the top 5 most outrageous robberies carried out in history.

The Isabella Gardner Museum Robbery

Art has always been valuable. This is one fact the robbers of the above named museum were well aware of. On March 18, 1990, two men disguised as policemen walked into the museum in Boston and tricked the security guards on duty into leaving their posts. The thieves then tied the guards up and made away with several valuable artworks. The value of the stolen art pieces is put at £500 million today, and to cap it all, the thieves and their loot are still at large. There is a $10 million reward for any credible information on these robbers.

The Banco Central Burglary

This robbery was so huge that it made it into the Guinness World Record as the biggest bank robbery ever. It happened in 2005 when a group of robbers made away with about $71.6 million worth of bank notes from the Banco Central bank in Brazil. They got into the bank by digging a tunnel from a building about 78 meters away from the bank directly into the bank’s vault. Although the prime suspect in the robbery turned up dead about 2 months later, only about $4 million of the stolen loot was recovered.

The Securitas Depot Robbery

Our next stop is the biggest cash robbery in the history of Britain. In February 2006, the manager of a Securitas depot was pulled over by what he thought was a police vehicle. It turned out to be robbers who kidnapped him and took him to join his already kidnapped family. The whole group then went back to the depot and the robbers made off with about $57 million in cash. However, 5 men in the 6-man gang were caught and given life sentences, while the 6^th man is still at large till today. And he is with the money too, allegedly.

The Great Brink’s Robbery

Another Boston Robbery makes this list. This particular robbery was referred to as the “crime of the century” back then. The robbers had spent two years studying and practicing for the crime and on the 17^th of January, 1950, it happened. They walked into the Brink building, tied up the bank’s staff and walked out with $1.2 million in cash and $1.6 million in checks. Although it took six years, the FBI finally apprehended them with 8 members of the original gang getting slammed with life sentences.

The Antwerp Diamond Heist

This is the biggest jewelry robbery ever. A man called Leonardo Notarbartolo led a group of robbers to steal about $100 million worth of diamonds from the Antwerp World Diamond Center. Notarbartolo had planned the crime very carefully. He rented an office in the diamond center for over 2 years just to make sure he is trusted and has unrestricted access to the building. And the crime was committed perfectly too. However, Notarbartolo made one mistake; he left his half-eaten sandwich at the crime scene, giving police enough DNA evidence to nab him. He was then arrested and sentenced to 10 years in prison.

These crimes have their places in the history books as some of the most outrageous robberies that have gone down in history. Have you heard of any bigger ones? Do share with us in the comment section.

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