Paris Jewelry Store Robbery

The New York Times has an article about a jewelry story robbery in Paris.

Armed robbers wearing women's wigs and clothing made off with diamond rings, gem-studded bracelets and other jewelry worth $108 million from a Harry Winston boutique in Paris, in one of the world's largest jewel heists.

There doesn't seem to be anything unusual about the robbery but the robber were described as being very organised.

Investigators seized the store's surveillance tapes and police said one group under suspicion was the so-called ''Pink Panthers,'' a ring of jewel thieves mostly from the former Yugoslavia. The international police agency Interpol has blamed the group for jewel thefts in 19 countries in Europe, Asia and the Persian Gulf worth more than $150 million over the past 10 years.

The Pink Panthers have a wikipedia page but there isn't very much information on it.

Craig's List Robber Arrested

Danger Room reports that the robber who recruited a crowd of unwitting accomplices and then escaped on an inner tube has been arrested.

Robbery Gang Sentenced

The BBC reports on the sentencing of a British robbery gang who stole GBP 500,000 in a string of bank robberies. Two of the robbers were killed during their arrest and the others all received long sentences.

During the trial, the jury was told that mobile telephone records of the gang members placed them at the scene of a series of bank raids, exactly a week before the crimes.

Robbers finds accomplices on Craig's list

Danger Room has an article about a robber who recruited unwitting accomplices by placing an ad on Craig's List for people to meet him at a certain location wearing a certain outfit. The robber robbed an armoured car and made his getaway in the confusion of similarly dressed people.

He said he inquired and was e-mailed back with instructions to meet near the Bank of America in Monroe at 11 a.m. Tuesday. He also was told to wear certain work clothing.

"Yellow vest, safety goggles, a respirator mask… and, if possible, a blue shirt," he said.

Mike showed up along with about a dozen other men dressed like him, but there was no contractor and no road work to be done. He thought they had been stood up until he heard about the bank robbery and the suspect who wore the same attire.

Follow up: Bruce Schneier has a post on the same robbery.

Art Theft Investigator

The Wall Street Journal has an article about FBI undercover art theft investigator Robert Wittman who has spent 20 years working undercover.

Stolen or Lost?

The Boston Globe has the story of a painting that was either lost or stolen. It came back from being on loan and was put in storage for a while. Now no one can find it.

Caravaggio stolen in Ukraine

Reuters reports that a Caravaggio has been stolen in the Ukraine.

Stolen Picassos found

Illicit Cultural Property reports that the Picasos that were stolen earlier this year have been recovered.

Three suspects have been arrested. In February police estimated the drawings may have been worth as much as $66 million. It seems the suspects were shopping the works to art dealers, and one of the dealers contacted French police.

3000 Blank British Passports Stolen

3,000 blank British passports, worth up to $10 million have been stolen from a van in Manchester when the driver stopped to buy a newspaper. The van was stolen with another guard/driver still inside. Security guru Bruce Schneier has a post with links to three articles on the theft.

DB Cooper cash may be in Vancouver

The CTV reports on a theory that D.B. Cooper's money may be in a bank vault in Vancouver.

Thief tells police to ignore alarms

The CBC reports that a robbery at a British Columbia art gallery was ignored because the thieves called in advance and told people to ignore the alarm.

Sewers of Gold

The Times has an article about a gang of thieves in Rome who were caught trying to tunnel into a bank from the sewers.

When police made arrests yesterday the secret of the gang apparently emerged —- one of those in custody is Salvatore Oliva, the former head of the drains and sewage department for Naples city council.

His knowledge is alleged to have enabled the thieves to melt away into the underground labyrinth of dank, dripping and malodorous tunnels beneath the streets.

Two Picassos stolen in Brazil

Reuters reports that two Picassos have been stolen in an armed robbery in Sao Paulo.

They made off with the Spanish artist's 1963 print "The Painter and the Model" and "Minotaur, Drinker and Women" from 1933, the state culture secretariat said.

They also snatched the print "Couple" by Brazilian artist Lasar Segall (1891-1957) and the painting "Women in a Window" by fellow Brazilian Emiliano Di Cavalcanti (1897-1976).

Yahoo News reports that the paintings were worth over half a million dollars.

Not real Art Thieves

The CBC has an article with an interview with a founding director of the Association for Research into Crimes Against Art.

"Against popular conception there is no such thing as a cliché or full-time art thief," said Charney in an interview with CBC cultural affairs show Q on Thursday.

"There are only thieves who have stolen art and sometimes more than once. Sometimes organized crime syndicates will hire thieves who are low on the totem pole to steal art."

Why so may European Art Thefts?

Slate has an article about why art theft is so much more common in Europe than in North America. The short answer is weaker security and more art.

Fake Guards

Following on to our earlier article about fake trucks, the Washington Post has an article about a criminal who dressed up as a security guard and walked out of a bank with $100,000 in cash.

About an hour after the robbery, the genuine Brinks guard arrived at the bank branch and was told that another guard had completed the day's cash pickup.

Only after returning to his office did the Brinks driver tell his supervisors that he did not make a pickup at the Wachovia branch, police said. Brinks officials contacted the bank, and a branch manager called D.C. police about 8 p.m., almost 11 hours after the theft.

The technique isn't always effective though, SFGate has an article about another thief who tried the same thing and got caught (with $640,000) before the could leave a Brinks facility.

Cloned Trucks

Computer security expert Bruce Schneier has an article about how criminals are creating trucks with fake logos and paint schemes to get by security guards.

Gang convicted for UK's largest robbery

Yahoo News has an article about the verdicts for the gang that committed the UK's largest robbery. The men stole 53 million pounds from an armoured car depot in February 2006 but were soon arrested.

The robbers, some dressed as policemen and most wearing prosthetic disguises, snatched the record haul after getting past tight security by kidnapping the depot's manager, his wife and son at gunpoint.

They were also helped by an "inside man", who not only provided details of the building's interior layout and security protocols, but also secretly filmed it using a tiny camera hidden on his belt.