Central Bank Tunnel Robbery (2005 Brazil)

On the weekend of August 6 and 7 in 2005, a gang tunneled their way to the Banco Central in Fortaleza. They had spent the previous months renting a house 2 blocks from the bank, where they posed as a business selling grass and plants. Witnesses in the neighborhood would see the men leave with van loads of soil, but this was not suspicious. They tunneled their way from the house to the bank vault, 2 blocks away, 78 meters of tunnels. They had even installed wood and plastic finish on the tunnel, with lighting and air conditioning. They finally broke through 1.1 meters of steel reinforced concrete to enter the vault and they were able to disable the banks alarms. They made off with roughly $70 million in bank notes. Unfortunately to the bank, this money was not insured, nor was it numbered so it was impossible to be tracked. Luis Fernando Ribeiro, the man suspected to be the leader of the burglars, was found shot in Rio de Janeiro a few months later. Authorities were able to arrest 5 of the men and seize roughly $7 million, but the remaining $63 million is unaccounted for.