Thursday, November 15, 2012

Tower of London Keys Stolen

I'm not sure what this is about but according to Sky News, someone stole the keys to the Tower of London from a sentry box.

Sunday, October 28, 2012

Major Dutch Art Heist

The Associated Press has the story of a major art theft in the Netherlands.  Stolen were:
Pablo Picasso's 1971 "Harlequin's Head"; Claude Monet's 1901 "Waterloo Bridge, London" and "Charing Cross Bridge, London"; Henri Matisse's 1919 "Reading Girl in White and Yellow"; Paul Gauguin's 1898 "Girl in Front of Open Window"; Meyer de Haan's "Self-Portrait," around 1890, and Lucian Freud's 2002 work "Woman with Eyes Closed."
Not much information on how the theft was committed:
She declined to reveal any details of how the thieves got in and out with the paintings, or how the museum is protected, other than describing its security as "state of the art" and "functional."

 Illicit Cultural Property has a post with reactions to the robbery.

Sunday, October 21, 2012

Bank Robber Leaves Suspect Package

The DCist has an article about a bank robbery in Washington DC where the robber complicated things by leaving a suspicious package behind.  Whether this helped or not is unclear.

Wednesday, September 26, 2012

Gang get 24 years from ATM robberies

Yahoo has the story of a British gang who repeatedly robbed ATMs.

Wearing balaclavas to hide their faces, they smashed their way into supermarkets using axes and hammers before breaking into ATMs with saws normally used for cutting rail tracks.
The quartet also carried out burglaries in which high-performance cars, including a BMW M3 and Audi RS4, were targeted and used to escape the scene of their cash-point raids at speeds of up to 150mph.
 There is some information on how they were caught:
Investigators made a breakthrough when they spotted men acting suspiciously around an Audi RS4 at a lock-up in Harborne, on the outskirts of Birmingham.

The vehicle was followed to a garage where forensics experts lifted clues from its interior which identified the four men as suspects.

Saturday, July 14, 2012

Simple Theft of Dali

The New York Times has the story about the very low tech theft of a Dali drawing from a New York City gallery.
The man who stole a drawing by the Surrealist painter Salvador DalĂ­ on Tuesday wore only the most basic of disguises: that of an everyday gallery visitor, walking past the Jeff Koons and Damien Hirst works on display. And he brought only the most basic of tools for his heist: a black shopping bag.

Thursday, June 28, 2012

Economics of Robbing Banks

Significance Magazine has an article (PDF warning) about the economics of robbing banks.  It turns out they aren't very good.
The average US bank robbery nets considerably less: some $43303, compared to an average of $1589 for all commercial robberies.  (There is a sector low of $769 for robberies from convenience stores.)


Friday, May 18, 2012

Art Theft: Just Buy It

The Art Newspaper has an article about an interesting tactic in art theft.  Instead of stealing it, buy it at auction and then pay with a stolen credit card.

Thursday, April 19, 2012

$100 Million Painting Recovered

Al Jazeera has an article about the recovery of a Cezanne painting stolen in an armed robbery in 2008.
Art experts have suggested the robbers took advantage of low security at the Swiss museum without knowing about the paintings or how difficult it can be to sell such well-known stolen art works.
Followup: ARCA has a more detailed post with many links.
via JRM

Monday, March 26, 2012

Saint's Heart Stolen From Dublin Cathedral

The BBC are reporting that thieves in Ireland have stolen the patron saint of Dublin's heart from Dublin Cathedral.  The heart of Saint Laurence O'Toole was in a wooden box inside an iron cage.

Saturday, January 28, 2012

Prison Van Ambush in UK

The BBC has an article about a gang that ambush a prison van and released one of the passengers.  I have seen this sort of thing many times on TV and in movies but didn't realise it happened in real life as well.

The article doesn't mention how they stopped the van but
West Mercia Police said three balaclava wearing men carrying sledgehammers, smashed the windscreen and driver's window of the prison escort van.

Tuesday, January 24, 2012

Digging into a Cash Machine

The BBC reports that a gang of thieves in Manchester built a hundred foot long tunnel into an ATM machine.
The passageway was about 4ft (1.2m) tall and had been fitted with lighting and roof supports.
...
Officers believe the people responsible could have spent up to six months digging the passageway.
Unfortunately
However, the thieves only escaped with about £6,000 - because the machine had not been re-filled after the New Year bank holiday.

Yahoo also have an article.