Thursday, February 16, 2017

Rare Book Heist

The Guardian has an article about a robbery of GBP3 million worth of rare books that were stolen by thieves who cut a hole in a warehouse roof and rappelled down to avoid sensors.

The gang are reported to have climbed on to the building’s roof and bored holes through the reinforced glass-fibre skylights before rappelling down 40ft of rope while avoiding motion-sensor alarms.
Scotland Yard confirmed that “a number of valuable books”, many from the 15th and 16th centuries, were stolen during the burglary in Feltham between 29 and 30 January.

Followup: Smithsonian.com has a post which links to  several other articles about the theft.  They also explain why the books were there:
The books were being temporarily stored in the warehouse on their way to the California Book Fair.