Bank robberies and such heists have an enduring fascination for the general public. Alongside the danger and the thrill of the robbers chancing their entire lives against a single day’s work, there is a certain cachet to walking out into the free air with a huge amount of money and leaving no casualties in your wake.
Of course, most bank robberies are not anything like the ones we see in the movies. A bank robber usually wants to do as little as possible to attract attention to themselves, and most robberies involve quiet transactions between the robber and the bank teller, with everyone else nearby none the wiser. Breaking in after hours is even more difficult.
Sometimes however banks are hit with all the brilliance of a heist movie. One such robbery occurred on January 13, 2006, five thieves allegedly looted safe deposit boxes before escaping in rubber boats along the hidden sewers in the Acassuso locality, roughly 16 km (10 miles) north of the center of Buenos Aires in Argentina.
A Well-Laid Plan
A group of individuals came up with an idea in January 2006 that allowed them to mislead the police while robbing the Banco Rio branch in Acassuso in Argentina. The bank theft took two years for the thieves to organize.
Before the crime a man named Julian Zalloecheverría, was approached by his friend Beto de la Torre to unite with the other group of thieves called Super Bandas. The group intended to steal the safe deposit boxes from the Acassuso Banco Rio branch.
Fernando Araujo, the mastermind behind the plan was responsible for organizing the actual theft. The plan involved constructing a tunnel which led inside the bank. The tunnel for the robbery took up significant planning and funding and was constructed by an accomplice, Sebastian Garca Bolster.
But the tunnel was not to be the way in. In this the bank robbers would eschew subtlety and go straight in through the front door, taking the people inside hostage and in the process ensuring the authorities would know a bank robbery was under way. And this was part of the plan.
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By entering the bank through the front entrance and capturing individuals as hostages inside the bank, they planned to create a stand-off situation whereby they would keep negotiating with the police. But, with the tunnel as an escape route, when the police finally entered the bank they would find the robbers to be long gone.
A bank robbery was in process when authorities received the phone call at 12:38pm on January 13, 2006. A short while later, police had surrounded the bank, a brown two-story building. The bank’s only security guard was set free and walked out the door while holding his unloaded revolver as authorities set up a perimeter.
He stated that there were hostages inside, and ten minutes later one of them was freed, a young, uneasy man. When a robber wearing a mask was seen as the door releasing another hostage a short while later, this time a lady, the situation appeared clear: these robbers intended to negotiate.
The Deception
Inside the bank there were five robbers. They weren’t masked, but they had come in clothed as painters. Other details as recalled later were also superficial: two thieves were wearing hoods; one was dressed as a doctor; one was little more than a kid; one wore a light-colored wig and named herself Susana.
One person in the gray-colored outfit seemed overconfident, considering the situation. He didn’t appear tense. He did not seem to fear the 200 policeman he was facing.
Soon, he had a message for the police outside, a warning. He shouted at them: “Get the individuals you are holding on the rooftop to leave; otherwise, we will kill a hostage immediately.” A journey of over eight hours started at this point.
The hostages,, around 23 people, were held for the whole day at the Acassuso Banco Rio. Throughout the day the authorities discussed strategies for ending the siege, but as time passed the continued silence from inside the bank started to concern them, and they wondered what the robbers were thinking.
They could hardly have guessed at the true atmosphere inside. The hostages were eating pizza and drinking sodas which the robbers had requested the police provide, and were even singing a birthday song for one of the captured individuals. But there was no sign of the robbers.
When the authorities finally tired of the silence and investigated, they found only the hostages and a letter which effectively stated “No hard feelings”.
The thieves had used their tunnel not to break in, but to break out of the bank. Having descended to the sewers and flood drains below, they made their escape in rubber boats with approximately $8 million from 145 safe deposit boxes.
How were they Caught?
The thieves quickly split up after their escape, dividing the cash and planning to never cross paths again. And that would have been it, with the world none the wiser as to the identity of the robbers, were it not for one of their wives.
In the weeks after the robbery Beto noticed that some of his share had gone missing. And it was no small amount: some $300,000 had vanished. When Beto confronted his wife of 18 years Alicia di Tulio about the missing money, she claimed that it was her right to spend some of it.
The two entered into a blazing row which ultimately led to Alicia storming out and informing the authorities about Beto being one of the bank robbers. Based on her statement the police arrested Alberto a month after the heist and discovered 700,000 US dollars inside a backpack.
Sebastián Garca Bolster was detained in Villa Gesell some days following Beto de la Torre’s capture. While being questioned, he instantly admitted to being involved in the heist of the Acassuso Banco Rio. However, the authorities could not locate any cash after the initial raids.
Araujo was subsequently found in the hills of San Juan by the national army of Argentina He had thought that hiding in a more rural area would enable him to evade capture, but he was unable to sufficiently explain himself to the authorities as to why he was there.
Araujo told them that he had come for a religious trip. While he was resting, the national army searched the camp. He stopped him by telling them not to waste their time as he was Fernando Araujo.
In all Alicia’s statement led to the arrest of four of the thieves. Four years following the incident, on 15th February 2010, the hearing of the thieves started. The thieves were identified as a 56-year-old man named Ruben Alberto De la Torre, a 51-year-old man named Julian Zalloechevierria, a 41-year-old man named Fernando Araujo, and a 40-year-old man named Sebastian Garcia Bolster.
The men all received sentences of between 10 and 15 years. All are now free and have acquired a certain reputation for audacity and bravery in their local communities. After all, this was a crime without casualties.
As for the doctor and the kid, two of the robbers identified by the hostages in the bank, nobody knows who they were to this day. They simply vanished, and so did the greater part of the money.
Top Image: The Acassuso bank robbery was breathtaking in its audacity. Source: Nomad_Soul / Adobe Stock.
By Bipin Dimri
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