10 – Baker Street Burglars
The Baker Street Burglars were no ordinary robbers; they were able to evade police simply because they were able to plan ahead. The robbers were able to tunnel through Lloyds Bank located on the corner of Baker Street and Marylebone Road in London in 1971.
They rented a leather goods shop which was two doors down from the bank and tunneled around 50 feet passing under a restaurant. A ham radio operator was able to overhear the robbers and their lookout conversations and reported the crime to the police. Authorities dismissed that there was something going on in the bank simply because the vault was still intact.
The robbers were able to get away with the contents of 260 safety deposit boxes and £1.5 million in cash.
9 – The 300 Million Yen Robber
Dubbed as the biggest crime of all time in Japan is the 300 Million Yen Robbery which happened nearly 50 years ago. The heist was actually simple. A bank car carrying almost 300 million yen or about $800,000, was out to deliver money for employee bonuses and was stopped by a police officer.
The alleged officer said that the bank manager’s house was just blown up and there were reports that the car was next. The four bank employees immediately got out of the car and panicked. The officer looked under the car all of a sudden, smoke came out from below.
The officer hopped on the driver’s seat and drove away with the cash! The employees were tricked with a fake smoke bomb and flare! The robber was able to get away and to this day, his identity is still a mystery.
8 – The Pink Panthers Group
The Pink Panthers Group targets high end jewellery stores in Europe, Asia, the Middle East and the United States. It is believed that the group has carried out robberies worth more than 330 million Euros since the group debuted in 1999 with more than 340 robberies in 35 countries all over the world.
And possibly what makes the Pink Panther Group different from other robbers is that their moves are quick and unpredictable.
Once they dressed up as ladies to rob a jewellery store while their most reckless heists include driving two cars into a shopping mall in Dubai where they were able to get an estimated 3 million Euros in jewellery.
Leonardo Notarbartolo was the leader of a ring of Italian thieves known as The School of Turin. He and his group broke into a vault two floors beneath the Antwerp Diamond Center and were able to steal at least $100 million worth of loose diamonds, jewellery, gold and other precious gems in February 2003.
The School of Turin was able to penetrate the vault that had 10 layers of security, infrared sensors, Doppler radars, a seismic sensor, a magnetic field and a lock that held 100 million possible combinations! No one could explain how the group broke in and the loot was never found.
However, based on circumstantial evidence, Notarbartolo was sentenced to 10 years in prison.
