BULLION THIEVES.

New Zealand Herald, Volume L, Issue 15234, 22 February 1913, Page 2 (Supplement)

BULLION THIEVES.

BOX CONTAINING £5000 STOLEN. A box containing £5000 in gold has been stolen during transit from Berlin to South America. The robbery followed very closely upon the mysterious theft of £10,000 from a consignment of £200,000 from the Bank of England, to the Credit Lyonnais, Alexandria- In that case lead ■was substituted for the gold. The Berlin box has been traced up to when it was transferred at Hamburg to a boat for transhipment to the steamship Cap Blanco, bound for Rio. When the boat reached the steamer the bullion box ' could not bo found. . During the past two years there have been four robberies of bullion during the transit across Europe. "It is well known," said a detective officer, "that an international gang is at work. In the £10,000 Credit Lyonnais robbery it has been established that the two cases found to contain lead were the original cases, thus disposing of the theory that there was a substitution of boxes. One 'alien' nail was found to have been driven in and the wax of the reimposed seals was different from that used by the Bank of England. It is quite clear that the thieves by some means obtain knowledge of the movement of bullion, the date, the route, and the exact description of the boxes in which the gold is placed. But so far they -have evaded capture,."