Came, saw, robbed: Daring shop robberies
olesya willow
We all love movies about the adventurous robberies, but life, as you know, is richer than imagination and throws plots worse than in the movies. We do not want to romanticize criminals, but it’s impossible to keep silent about such stories.
Most often, boutiques around the world rob in March and September: in these months, shops are filled with new collections, and robbers have plenty to choose from. Mostly jewels are stolen, jewels and watches are expensive, and selling them is much easier than art objects or cars. For example, the Paris concept store Colette was recently robbed for 600 thousand euros: two men threatened the staff with an ordinary ax and hid with the loot on a motor scooter. We remembered other daring thefts, as a result of which jewels were cynically carried out of stores, the amount of damage was seven-digit number, and the thieves remained unpunished.
Jewelry boutique at the hotel Carlton
Cannes, 1994 Damage: $ 60 million
One of the most famous unpunished robberies in modern history happened 20 years ago in a jewelry boutique at the Cannes hotel Carlton. This was the case when impudence and brute force worked better than a carefully thought out plan. The robbers broke into the store right before closing and immediately opened fire. While the visitors and the boutique staff came to their senses after the shock, the thieves in a couple of minutes collected all their valuable jewels and disappeared. The police did not figure out who made the raid and where they then sold the jewelry. At the same time, no one was hurt during the robbery: the robbers' weapons were loaded with blank bullets.
Exhibition "Unusual Jewelry" at the Carlton Hotel
Cannes, 2013 Damage: $ 140 million
The funny thing is that the decorations from the Carlton Hotel in Cannes are stolen with enviable regularity. Last year, a rather insolent thief surpassed the previous story and dealt with a robbery of $ 140 million alone and in less than a minute. The crime took place in the room where the exhibition "Unusual Ornaments" was held. The raid, which entered the history of France as the most expensive, was recorded by a surveillance camera, and it looks extremely unobtrusive. The most interesting part of the video starts at 01:12.
Jewelry boutique Harry Winston
Paris, 2014 Damage: $ 107 million
In Paris, news of a robbery has long been a cause of cold indifference: every week they rob everybody in the very center of the city, in the area of Place Vendôme, 15 minutes walk from the Louvre. Robbery Colette, for example, was the third in a row in just one week. 36 hours before the incident at Colette, jewelry jewelry Grisogono was robbed for 420 thousand euros. As we have noticed, such attacks are cynical, in broad daylight, and the robbers arrive, armed with any object that they come to hand. At the same time, neither the guards of the shops, nor the police can do anything about it. In addition, the studios located in the vicinity, where jewels are processed, as well as ordinary passers-by, carrying expensive purchases in packages, are becoming victims of raids.
The most expensive shoplift in Paris occurred on Christmas Eve 2008. The jewelry boutique Harry Winston in the city center on Montagne Avenue has been robbed for $ 107 million. The robbers were disguised as women and quietly strolled around the jewelry for some time, then, threatening the staff with grenades and firearms, to take out expensive watches and diamonds from the boutique. A suspect in the case was a gang from Yugoslavia, known as the "Pink Panthers". Even Interpol was attracted to investigate the raid, but to no avail - the suspects remained ordinary suspects.
Jewelry boutique Damiani
Milan, 2008 Damage: $ 32 million
It was rumored that this robbery was also the work of the Pink Panthers. It happened a couple of months after the Paris case at Harry Winston, but according to a more cinematic scenario: the robbers made a dig, leading to the Damiani jewelry boutique. But either the thieves were careful, or they were in a hurry - they took away decorations for only $ 32 million.
Photo: Getty Images / Fotobank, Shutterstock