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10 Most Famous Bank Robberies of All Time

The world has witnessed some of the most deadly and meticulously planned and designed heists in history, ranging from minor to extreme robberies. Robbery became a career for some people as they ventured into making quick money most dangerously. Bank robberies range from stealing tens of thousands of dollars to hundreds of millions. Some went to extremes trying to steal billions of money from banks and financial institutions. In some cases, these famous robberies were successful, where men got away with unimaginable amounts of money.

Below are the ten most famous bank robberies in the history of robberies.

1. The Central Bank of Iraq Robbery

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The bank robbery in Baghdad is considered the most famous in history, considering the amount of money involved. The Iraqi leader and Dictator Saddam Hussein arranged the heist. The heist was politically orchestrated when the United States of America was planning to raid the Iraqi leader. In 2003 before the beginning of the Iraq war, Saddam Hussein ordered his followers to raid the central bank and pack money for his son Qusay. Hussein ordered the withdrawal of the money as he wanted to keep it away from the hands of the United States of America and the enemies of Iraq. The heist involved almost a billion dollars stolen from the central bank by Saddam Hussein. The money was packed in bags and loaded into vans. However, the United States of America raided Saddam Hussein’s camp and recovered some of the money for the Iraqi people.

2. The Cyber Robbery in the Bank of Bangladesh

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In 2016, some smart people from North Korea attempted what could have been the largest heist in the twenty-first century. The cybercriminals attempted to steal more than a billion dollars from the bank of Bangladesh before their mission was cut short. The hackers managed to access the bank’s systems and initiated the transactions that were supposed to transfer the bank’s all money to another location. The Banks’ systems stopped functioning, and the workers thought it was an ordinary malfunction. However, when the system was restarted, management received a message from the reserves bank. The hackers had asked the reserves bank to drain all money from the bank. However, the process was intercepted and stopped, but the North Koreans made away with more than eighty million dollars.

3. The Northern Bank Robbery

Northern Bank headquarters. Photo by Ardfern.

December 2004 was a tragic month for the Northern Bank managers in Ireland. Bank robbers organized a robbery that took more than two days to materialize. Bank robbers paid visits to the bank’s managers and kidnapped their families, forcing them to cooperate and give up their money. The next day, the managers were forced to work like any normal day without raising the alarm. With the managers’ families captured by the robbers, the managers cooperated and gave away twenty-six million dollars in cash. The robbers received their money at their central point and released the family members belonging to the managers. The robbers got away successfully because nobody had been convicted of the crime.

4. The Dar Es Salaam Bank Robbery

The Iraq war paved the way for a series of bank robberies in the country, including the Dar es salaam bank robbery in 2007. A few years after Saddam Hussein ordered a heist involving a billion dollars, another group go robbers forced their way into the Dar es Salaam bank and stole almost three hundred million dollars. The heist was quiet as the robbers entered the bank without being noticed by the security guards. However, investigators suggest that some of the security members on duty might have been part of the deal because they facilitated the movement of the robbers into and out of the bank without being noticed. The robbers were also not arrested because nobody noticed them.

5. The London Knightsbridge Security Deposit Robbery

In 1987, a famous robber from Italy named Valerio Viccei organized one of the perfect criminal activities in Europe’s history of robberies. Viccei was a common criminal in Italy and the neighboring European nations before he went the extra mile in London. He had committed over fifty robberies and other minor offenses across Europe and was a wanted man. The infamous robber bribed the bank’s assistant manager to get access to the bank manager. While inside the bank, Viccei asked for the vault. When he found the location of the money, he put a sign on the bank doors suggesting that the bank had been closed. He allowed his friends in and broke into several vaults stealing money. They got away with more than ninety million dollars. He fled to Brazil, where he enjoyed part of the stolen money before he decided to fly back to Europe. He was arrested while trying to ferry his goods back to Italy.

6. The United California Bank Robbery

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Amil Dinsio was a famous robber in 1970, having committed several robberies with violence. However, he hit the world news when he organized the 1972 bank robbery in united California, getting away with more than thirty million dollars in cash and jewelry. Amil and his team planned the heist for months and practiced every step. They executed the robbery in the bank and got away without being arrested for a while. One of the gang members was found in a bar and arrested, leading to the entire team’s arrest in a short period. Their heist was organized well so they could survive in hideouts for a while before being arrested.

7. The Banco Central Robbery

The Guinness Book of World Records recognized the banco central robbery as one of the most famous robberies before other heists were carried out. The robbery took place in Brazil’s city, Fortaleza. The robbers used old-fashioned methods to steal the money by digging a tunnel into the bank’s vault. Although the process took three months, the twenty-five men managed to dig a 256-fit tunnel from a local market center into the bank. While in the vault, they stole money and precious property to more than seventy million dollars. Their meticulous plan helped them escape without being arrested for a few months. The money was partially recovered when five team members were arrested and prosecuted.

8. The British Bank of Middle East Robbery

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Lebanon was in a civil war in 1976 when a group of bank robbers organized a heist to get away with an unknown amount of money from the bank of the Middle East. The war had been in the region for years as the United States of America tried to settle the ongoing wars in the Middle East. The civil war provided the best opportunity for the violent bank robbers armed with ammunition and explosives. They took advantage of the situation and broke into the bank through a church, where they used explosives to penetrate. The robber’s stolen money was an unknown figure ranging from twenty to fifty million dollars. The money has never been recovered, and no one has ever been arrested.

9. The Brink’s-Mat Robbery

In 1983, an organized group of robbers stole money and other valuables from a warehouse in London. The Anthony Black gang group befriended a security guard at Heathrow Airport in London, where they managed to steal more than twenty million dollars with gold, platinum, and other products that could easily be converted to money. The security guard at the airport cooperated with the robbers to hide them from the company’s security. However, the thieves were arrested in a few months and prosecuted, but the money and jewelry have never been recovered.

10. The Great Train Robbery

There had been bank robberies worldwide, but the police did not expect a robbery on a moving train. A group of fifteen gang members intercepted a moving train from Glasgow having valuable goods on board. The robbers arranged the robbery for months studying the movement of the train and the best place of interception. They intercepted the train in a remote area by destroying the trackside signals. They remotely stopped the train that had a conductor, overpowered him, and made away with goods worth two and a half million dollars.

The heists in the history of bank robbery have continued to change over the years as every year comes with a different and more deadly robbery. Some of the robberies were meticulously planned by those who took time to study their prime target. However, other robberies involved people from the management or security guards who aided the robbers in executing their plans. Some money and property were recovered in most robberies, while others made away with money and got lost forever.