Brazil: US$65 million stolen from central bank
9/8/2005 15:26
Thieves assaulted a Central Bank vault in the city of Fortaleza in Ceara
state of Brazil, getting away with about US$65 million, said the police on
Monday.
Should this number be confirmed, the assault over the weekend would
be the biggest one in the history of Brazil.
In order to enter into the
vault, the thieves dug up a 200-meter-long, 4-meter-deep tunnel from a
neighboring house and the stealing was discovered on Monday.
According to the
Central Bank, the 500-square-meter vault is surrounded by two-meter-thick
reinforced concrete walls.
The police estimated that 6 to 10 individuals were
involved in the theft and it is not yet known whether the video cameras of the
bank recorded anything.
The biggest bank robbery in Brazil occurred in July
1999, when nearly 20 armed men raided a branch of the Sao Paulo State Bank by
night, getting away with US$16.9 million.
Xinhua News
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