RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – In a heist, straight from a movie plot, a Brazilian gang drove onto the runway of a São Paulo airport well disguised as Federal Police and left with 123 million Brazilian Reals (US$ 32 Million) in gold.
The thieves managed to gain access to Cumbica airport Thursday, July 25th, in two trucks identical to those driven by the Federal Police; featuring exact copies of the lights, stencils, and logos of the law enforcement agency.
The target was an armored truck carrying 720 kg of gold destined for Canada and Switzerland.
According to authorities, the gang took a logistics supervisor’s family hostage on Wednesday night, compelling him to give them information about when and where the gold would be delivered.
The following day the thieves drove to the airport in the phony vehicles which allowed them to bypass initial security checkpoints. According to witnesses, once on the tarmac, five hooded men armed with pistols and rifles forced the security team to surrender, placed the gold in the trucks and took a man hostage before leaving.
Authorities said that the criminals ditched the vehicles about twenty km from the airport, also releasing the hostage and the logistic supervisor’s family.
High risk, high reward thefts have recently become more frequent in Brazil. For many criminal gangs, targeting goods and valuables in transit has become a profitable alternative to the narcotics trade.
In March of last year, a similar heist to this Thursday’s took place when a Lufthansa jet carrying about R$20 million (US$5 million) was robbed on the runway. The thieves gained access to the area in vehicles made to look like armored security trucks.
In October of 2018, criminals dug a 600-meter tunnel in São Paulo, complete with lighting and its ventilation system. The target was a bank vault holding nearly a billion Reais (US$250 million). Authorities managed to foil the crime at the last moment. If successful, it would have been the biggest bank heist ever.
Insurance companies and those involved in the transport of valuable goods have started to invest heavily in private security to prevent would-be thieves and cargo bandits.
Although high profile cases like Thursday’s gold heist often gain international headlines, ongoing violent robberies of goods in transit has become a significant issue for Brazilian companies.
The resulting added security and insurance costs are often passed on to consumers, resulting in more expensive products.