Bank robbers net $10.6M

Press, 21 July 1976, Page 8

Bank robbers net $10.6M

NZPA-Reuter Nice, Franc, A minutely-planned operation at the week-end netted the robbers of a bank in Nice at least 50M francs (SNZIO.6M), perhaps the largest civilian criminal haul in history, Agence France-Presse reports. The bank’s coffers were brimming over because nearby big department stores had deposited their cash receipts on Friday, and residents of the wealthy city had deposited

their valuables before :e leaving on their annual holidays. I The gang reached the i eight large, armoured vaults containing the safety deposit boxes by digging an eight-metre tunnel from a city sewage main into the bank and through the vault walls. Once inside the vaults, the robbers used acetylene welding torches. Officers probing the sacking of the big Societe Generale bank at the

French Riviera resort said the total might be even higher when all the tenants of safety deposit boxes reported their losses. Two hundred boxes were rifled by the gang, which the police estimate at six persons. The boxes contained cash, securities, jewellery, and other valuables. The size of the burglary was illustrated when the police found pearls and small-denomination bonds scattered among rifled

papers inside the bank vault. They had been too trifling for the robbers to waste time on, the polio said. The bank in central Nice wns unguarded at the week-end, which gave the gang the opportunity to take their time and make as much noise as they wanted. The police noted that they were able to avoid setting off the bank’s mechanical alarm system, indicating that they had precise mforma tion and at least several weeks planning.