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20 Most Famous Robberies in History

*Originally published by Diana K in 2022, Updated by Vanessa R. in May 2023, and Updated by Ian.S in February 2024

For some people, robbery is a shortcut to getting rich quickly.

But also we have a strange history of idolizing criminal masterminds. Even thieves who don’t necessarily share their robbed riches with the poor still seem to retain the adoration of fans.

As technology and security evolve, so does the criminal guile that seeks to fleece— it’s like the darker half of innovation.

For instance, American industries flourished with the advent of train transportation until they had to contend with the ferocious Jesse James gang.

The only caveat is, it’s successful as long as you don’t get caught. But many robbers do find themselves behind bars eventually.

Here is a countdown of the 20 most famous robberies in history.

1. The Central Bank of Iraq Robbery – $920 million

Photo by on

Baghdad holds the infamous record for the largest bank heist in history. The mastermind was none other than Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein.

One day before the Iraq War began in 2003, he sent three large trucks to the Central Bank.

He also sent his son Qusay a handwritten note asking to withdraw nearly $1 billion to keep it from enemy hands. The money was loaded into vans and driven away.

Most of the cash was recovered in the ensuing raids then the plot thickens.

Tasked with counting the illicit loot, American soldiers made off with hundreds of thousands of dollars for themselves and their families. Thirty-five service members were caught.

2. The Dunbar Armored Car Company Robbery

A record $18.9 million in cash was stolen during the heist by six armed men.  However, as is often the case.

Allen Pace III was the brains behind the operation.  Five other associates including Eugene Lamar Hill were involved. 

Two additional individuals were later convicted for helping launder the money.

A robbery of this magnitude often involves someone with inside knowledge.  In this case, Pace was the guy, having worked for Dunbar as the company’s safety inspector. 

He secured pertinent information regarding daily operations, building security features, and schedules of Dunbar’s fleet of armored delivery vehicles.

On the night of Friday, September 12, 1997, Pace and five of his old friends got inside the facility by subduing the guards and slipping through the cameras unnoticed.

The robbers loaded millions of dollars into their truck as Allen Pace knew which bags contained the highest denominations. He also took care of the recording devices for the cameras, taking them away.

The robbers carefully laundered the money through property deals and phony businesses.

The crime was disclosed when one of the thieves transacted with a stack of cash with the original currency straps on it.

3.The Dar Es Salaam Bank-  $282million

Photo by on

To this day, few details are known about the 2007 robbery at Dar Es Salaam Bank, a private financial institution in Baghdad, Iraq.

It’s unclear why the bank had so much American cash on hand.

Allegedly, the theft was orchestrated by several bank guards.

The government suspected the robbers also had contacts within local police and militias that allowed them to pass through the many checkpoints across Baghdad undetected.

No further information has been released about the whereabouts of the money or those responsible.

The robbers stole $282 million in cash and were never caught

4. The United California Bank Heist- $30million

Bank robbery Photo  by Davies County Historical Society –

In March 1972 Professional burglars Amil and James Dinsio with their nephews, brother-in-law, and two other associates who were good at disarming the alarms pulled off the largest heist in U.S. history.

They used dynamite to blast a hole in the roof of the safe deposit vault at United California Bank and looted $30 million in cash and valuables.

They could have probably run away with the cash, but they got greedy and tried to perpetrate a similar heist in Ohio.

The investigators linked these two heists and figured out that the gang traveled to California using their real names.

Later officials found a townhouse the robbers rented in California to stage their heist.

Investigators recovered the burglars’ fingerprints in the dishwasher. Eventually, all members of the gang were arrested and most of the loot was recovered

5.  The British Bank of the Middle East Robbery- $50 million

The dye pack exploded and the stack of money was abandoned after the robbery by Collin Brown –

In 1976, when Lebanon was in the midst of a civil war, a group of robbers decided to cash in on the confusion.

In one of the most brazen robberies of all time, the group used explosives to burst through the wall of a Catholic church and enter the neighboring British Bank of the Middle East.

They brought with them professional locksmiths to crack open the vault.

The robbers made off with $44.5 million in cash, stocks, gold bars, jewels and other valuables.

None of the loot was recovered and no one was arrested. Today, the stolen goods are worth more than three times their value in 1976.

6. Knightsbridge Safe Deposit Centre – £60 million

Bank safe deposit vault by jonathunder –

The year is 1986 when Italian criminal, Valerio Viccei arrived in London. After securing the help of Parvez Latif, the managing director of the Knightsbridge Safe Deposit Centre, he began to formulate his plan.

On 12^th July 1987, 2 men entered the center where they requested to rent a safety deposit box.

They were then shown into the vault where they took out handguns and subdued the manager and security guards.

The group then broke open many of the safety deposit boxes, pocketing the contents, which was estimated to be worth around £60 million.

This is considered a conservative guess, as the owners of the security boxes may have not reported the full extent of the contents.

However, several of them were later tracked down by the authorities and arrested. Viccei on the other hand fled to Latin America, where he seemed to be safe from arrest.

It wasn’t until he returned to England to retrieve his prized Ferrari that the authorities caught up with him. He was sentenced to 22 years in prison in April 2000.

During a day’s release, he became involved in a gunfight and was killed by police.  

Valerio Viccei was already wanted for more than 50 robberies in Italy and almost committed the perfect crime in London.

7.  The Northern Bank Robbery- $41 million

The aftermath of a deadly shootout between police and bank robbers by Gregory Lee –

Thieves forced the bank managers to let them into the vault after hours

The week before Christmas 2004, robbers in Belfast, Northern Ireland, dressed as police officers and entered the homes of two bank managers.

Their families were held hostage, and the managers were instructed to go to work as normal the next day.

When the workday ended, the managers let the thieves into the bank, where they stole about 26.5 million British pounds and additional foreign currencies in the biggest bank robbery in Irish history.

The case is still unsolved and so far only one person has been arrested, for money laundering.

8. Securitas Depot Heist- £53 Million

In the early morning hours of February 22, 2006, a gang of at least six men, some of them armed, stole from the Securitas bank depot in Kent, Great Britain. It was the largest such theft in British history.

Men posing as police officers kidnapped the manager of the Securitas depot in Tonbridge, which handled cash for the Bank of England, on 21 February 2006.

Concurrently, another band of fake policemen kidnapped Dixon’s wife and 8-year-old son.

At the Securitas depot, 14 staff were bound and taken hostage. The gang filled a lorry with over £53 Million of banknotes and had to leave a further £154 million behind as they’d run out of space in their lorry.

The hostages were left locked in metal cages before fleeing the scene.

They only managed to escape when the manager’s 8-year-old son was able to squeeze between the bars and retrieve the key for the cages from another staff member.  

The robbers return to Kent farm where they share the loot and go their separate ways.

The police arrested 36 people for the act. Two of the ring leaders were caught after one accidentally recorded plans for the heist on his phone

The Securitas Depot robbery is the largest cash-only robbery in British history. It’s also the most shocking due to the lengths that the gang went to.

9. The Brink’s- Mat Burglary –£26 million

On 26th November 1983, 6 men broke into the Brinks-Mat warehouse on the Heathrow International trading estate.

A security guard opened the door to the warehouse for the gang. On gaining entry they threatened the staff to give them the safe combination by dousing them in petrol and threatening to light them on fire.

Initially, the gang had targeted stealing cash from the vault but they also spirited away 3 tonnes of gold bullion as well as diamonds, ending up with a haul worth over £26 million.

Most of the crew evaded capture, but 2 were arrested. The gold was melted and mixed with copper to hide its true source before disposing it to the market.

The gold from the heist has never been recovered.

10. The Banco Central Burglary – $71.6 million

Illegal tunnel by DVIDSHUB –

The robbers posed as landscapers and dug a tunnel to the vault

2005, Banco Central burglary in Fortaleza, Brazil, was once recognized by the Guinness Book of World Records as the world’s greatest bank robbery.

A 25-member gang set up a fake landscaping business to pull it off. They spent three months digging a 256-foot tunnel that led up through the bank’s vault floor.

Once inside, they stole several containers that held 160 million Brazilian reals (worth $71.6 million in 2005).

11. Pink Panther Jewelry Heist- Â£300³¾¾±±ô±ô¾±´Ç²Ô

When a global group of jewel thieves embarked on a spree of robberies and heists throughout the world, Interpol gave them the name Pink Panthers in honor of the well-known film franchise.  

One of their most well-known robberies took place when four guys posing as women broke into the Harry Winston diamond store in Paris, which contained jewelry valued at more than 105 million dollars. They have orchestrated multiple prison breakouts around the world to free their accomplices even though many of their members have been detained.

12. Millennium Dome Raid-£10 million

In 2000, London had finally completed building the outrageous financial waste known as the Millennium Dome. A top-notch diamond exhibit was one of its many exhibitions. The “Millennium Star,” a perfect 203-carat rock with a $250 million market value, served as the crown treasure.

With weapons blazing, the bandits planned an explosive smash-and-grab operation before making off on a waiting speedboat. However, their plan was thwarted because the London Metropolitan Police had, coincidentally, already been keeping an eye on them for a few robberies of military vehicles, and they were immediately arrested on the spot.

13. Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum Heist-$500 million

When Boston was celebrating St. Patrick’s Day in 1990, two thieves dressed as Boston police officers broke into the museum and stole 13 priceless works of art. An estimated $500 million worth of artwork is missing, including a Rembrandt, a Manet, and a few Degas pieces. In honor of the stolen artwork and in the hope that it will one day be found, empty frames are currently hanging in the space.

The Museum is offering a sizable reward for any information that may result in the rediscovery of the artwork, however, the identity of the robbers and the whereabouts of the painting are still unknown. One of the biggest crimes in American history remains a mystery.

14. The French Bank Vault Tunnelers

A group of criminals broke into the vaults of a Parisian bank in 2010 using sophisticated and unidentified gear, where they then stole over 100 safety deposit boxes. Given that wealthy clients discreetly handled their containers, the value of the stolen goods cannot be determined. The same mystery team was the leading suspect in a very similar crime that took place at a bank to the north of the city months earlier and involved the theft of over 100 boxes.

15. Vastberga Helicopter Robbery- £5.4 million

In 2009, the first-ever “Helicopter robbery” in Sweden required an otherwise uninterested police force to take on a highly coordinated gang of cunning criminals. The gang flew onto the roof of a cash depot building in a stolen helicopter. Sledgehammers were used to smash through glass, explosives were used to blow through security doors, and the cash store vaults were ransacked.

When they fled, sacks of cash were taken. Caltrops that the crooks had thrown all over the road punctured the tires of police cars when they arrived on the scene. Despite being eventually apprehended, none of the thieves were sentenced to more than 7 years in jail.

16. The Great Train Robbery – £58 million

The Great Train Robbery was the theft of £2.6 million(present-day £58 million ) from a Royal Mail train traveling from Glasgow to London in August 1963.

A gang of 15 men, led by Bruce Reynolds, tampered with railway signals to stop the train before attacking and robbing it. The robbers included well-known criminals like Gordon Goody, Buster Edwards, and Ronnie Biggs.

Careful planning based on inside information from an unidentified man dubbed “The Ulsterman” allowed the gang to pull off the massive heist and escape with the money. Though firearms weren’t used, the train driver Jack Mills was beaten and suffered lasting head injuries.

Most of the stolen money was never recovered. The gang hid at Leatherslade Farm afterward but were caught due to evidence like fingerprints left on a monopoly board. The ringleaders received 30-year prison sentences but the bulk of the money was never found.

The Great Train Robbery was one of the most infamous heists in British history, remarkable for its meticulous planning and sizeable haul.

17. E.G. Bührle Art Museum Robbery – $160 million

, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

On February 10, 2008, the E.G. Bührle Art Museum in Zurich fell victim to a brazen heist. Masked thieves, armed with handguns, stole four priceless paintings, including works by Cézanne, Degas, and Van Gogh.

The stolen art was valued at over $160 million. Among the stolen pieces was Van Gogh’s “Blossoming Chestnut Branches,” worth an estimated $45 million alone.

The audacious robbery shocked the art world, and although some pieces were later recovered in 2012, the whereabouts of the remaining artworks remain unknown, marking one of the most significant unsolved art thefts in history.

18. Schiphol Airport Robbery – $118 million

, , via Wikimedia Commons

The infamous Schiphol Airport Heist occurred on February 25, 2005, when a gang of thieves, dressed as KLM Royal Dutch Airlines personnel, infiltrated the airport’s secure area.

Overcoming meticulous security, the robbers hijacked a KLM cargo truck, making off with an estimated €75 million ($118 million) in diamonds, jewelry, and cash from the cargo hold of a departing plane.

The meticulously planned heist was executed with precision, leaving investigators baffled. Despite multiple arrests, much of the stolen loot remains unrecovered.

The Schiphol Airport Robbery stands as one of the largest and most audacious heists in criminal history, showcasing the vulnerability of high-security facilities.

19. Antwerp Diamond Heist- $100 million

, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

The Antwerp diamond heist in 2003 was the largest diamond robbery ever, with over $100 million worth of diamonds, gold, silver, and jewelry stolen.

Thieves broke into a vault two floors underground in Antwerp, Belgium over the weekend of February 15-16. The vault was extremely well-protected with multiple security systems and located in a heavily guarded diamond district.

Yet the thieves managed to bypass all of these measures and make off with the enormous cache of valuables. The heist required meticulous planning and execution to penetrate the sophisticated vault security. Most of the stolen diamonds were never recovered, despite some arrests.

The Antwerp diamond robbery was dubbed the “heist of the century” for the sheer value of its haul and boldness in defeating the vault’s defenses.

It remains one of the biggest unsolved robberies, with the majority of diamonds still missing years later despite intensive investigations.

20. The Graff Diamonds Robbery – Jewelry worth nearly £40 million (US$65 million)

Photo by on

The Graff Diamonds robbery took place in London on August 6, 2009, when two men posing as customers stole nearly £40 million (US$65 million) worth of jewelry from the store.

It was the largest gems heist ever in Britain at the time, second only to the 2006 Securitas depot robbery. The thieves made off with 43 items including expensive diamond rings, bracelets, necklaces, and watches.

A single necklace was worth over £3.5 million alone. No firearms were used in the brazen daytime robbery. The stolen jewels, which amounted to one of the biggest diamond hauls in history, have never been recovered.

It is believed the thieves broke up the jewels and resold the diamonds anonymously after recutting them to avoid detection. This was the second major jewelry theft at Graff’s after a 2003 heist.

The 2009 Graff robbery demonstrated sophisticated planning and execution, confounding security systems through disguise and deception rather than force.