The Banco Central Burglary is one of the most sophisticated and meticulously executed heists in Brazil’s history. This was one of the greatest setbacks in terms of security measures of the Central Bank of Brazil, which affected the reputation of Brazil. This all occurred when a group of criminals dug a tunnel into the bank’s vault and looted around 70 million dollars, which is approximately 160 million Brazilian reals. The gang executed this heist so immaculately that the police have been unable to arrest the robbers, leaving the case unsolved to this day. This article covers how the planning of the planning, execution and the aftermaths of the Heist.
Planning of the Heist
The planning of this heist begins when the group of criminals, reportedly led by Little Fernando, rented a small house near the Central Bank of Brazil under the name of operating a landscaping company called “Grama Sintética.”. They hide their true intentions by promoting the landscape company, making everyone believe. They used the name of a landscaping company to get the van, which they then used to transport the removed soil. The plan was to dig the tunnel from their rented property to the bank’s underground vault to steal the money. Reports suggest that Little Fernando (Luis Fernando Ribeiro) and 25 other gang members carried out the heist.
How was the heist executed?
The group of criminals started digging the tunnel from their rented property. The gang built a tunnel approximately 78 meters (256 feet) long and reinforced it with wood and plastic to prevent collapse. They also equipped the tunnel with air conditioning, lights, and a pulley to transport the removed soil. After more than 3 months of digging, the gang completed the tunnel. On the weekend of August 5-6, they broke through the concrete floor of the vault and bypassed the bank’s security system. After all their work, they managed to steal nearly 3.5 tons of Brazilian currency. The burglars transported the money to the nearby van and ran away. All the measures used in the robbery, from digging the tunnel to the use of an air conditioning facility, point to the technical and high-level engineering used to perfectly execute the plan. It is believed that the burglars spent more than 200 thousand dollars to successfully complete the tunnel.
The aftermath of the robbery
The police were informed about the heist on Monday morning when the bank employees opened the vault. When the news of the robbery broke out, an investigation on the matter was held, and over 150 arrests were made. The prints were erased by the robbers to hide their details. Out of the 26 people involved in the heist, only 8 of them were arrested. The reported mastermind, Little Fernando was killed by kidnappers after the ransom was paid. Even after hundreds of arrests, only 20 million dollars were recovered.
Conclusion
The Banco Central Burglary shows the weakness in the security measures applied by the banking system and how the criminals go to extreme measures to perfectly execute the heist. The heist damaged the financial and public standing of Brazil in front of the whole world. The biggest mysteries of this robbery remain unsolved to this day, and most of the money has not been recovered to this day. There are still unanswered questions like who the actual mastermind of this heist was and what happened to the rest of the unrecovered money. Through this heist, many security measures in the banking sector have been upgraded and updated to prevent such events in the future.
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