Highway Robbery (literally!)

"The robbers bound the men, broke a padlock on the back of the truck and stole about 275 pounds in gold bars, each weighing about 25 pounds. Woodard said the lock was 'a Master Lock, one that you can purchase out of Lowe's, which might have been used as part of the transport company's security protocol."

4.8 Mil and you use a padlock that can be had at Lowe's? Oh please........what was the name of the courier service? Yodie Ho Courier Service?

 

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The reports are ridiculous for what I would expect when shipping valuables, especially for a company that seems to have been in business for this since 1992.

First off, they are using a semi-truck???? And one that is unmarked (both the load and the cab)? This seems odd since this company per it's website seems to use yellow marked armored cars, and the guns they picture for arms seems large. How can you expect armed guards to be in a semi-truck cab with the driver? Pretty odd, IMO.

And to secure the load of a semi-truck with a regular master-lock padlock, that's off, IMO, too.

Let's say it was transported in a semi-truck, really would the people that insure them like that? I wouldn't think that their insurers would be good with that, since loads of trucks are targets in some cases for theft. I think it would actually be in an armored truck.

If it was in the armored truck, certainly if they would have to stop and get out for fumes or whatever, what really are the chances they will leave their weapons behind? And if there was someone nearby, what are the chances they will be there just at the time these unarmed people leave the truck?

This whole thing smells like it is an inside job and the people perpetrating it are none too smart. And if it is an inside job, it seems likely to me on the surface, at least that the employees transporting this (one or more) were in on it.

 

I like how the story keeps changing. They had mechanical trouble, one of them got car sick, they smelled gas fumes, they took three barrels of gold, they took 275 pounds in 25 pound bars, they didn't take all the gold, the left 10 tons of silver, no mention of any silver.

My brother used to drive a semi and using a masterlock to secure the door is not unusual. Yes you might think that you might need a more secure method of locking the door but I would think you would have to come up with a custom door and latching mechanism for the trailer. Possible if they use the trailer for secure transport on a regular basis, otherwise not likely.

 

They would melt it if smart!!!

I personally think this is inside from the get go. The drivers themselves are the ones in on it and they claiming ignorance and they cannot speak English...for what those drivers make (they said they worked there for several years) I'm sure it is tempting, but there story does not add up. No mechanical problems found with the van, they got out of the vehicle with no weapons, etc. They either hid the gold in the woods or they had an accomplice who met them to transport the gold....

 

Another change, the three barrels are now five gallon buckets.

 

Yep, a 5-gallon bucket is certainly what I'd use to carry gold bars.

A report I saw earlier said that each bucket held about 55 pounds of gold, which would mean there were five total. Gold kilo bars are, what, 5" by 2" by .4"? Something like that? Twenty of them would "fill the bucket" about two layers deep, I guess.

The more I hear, the wackier this carrier's story sounds. Gold in buckets? Is that what they use to top off Scrooge McDuck's swimming pool?

 

Update to story...
http://abcnews.go.com/US/fbi-finds-gold-bar-49m-highway-heist/story?id=30470181

 

...and it was in a "5-gallon bucket".

Curiouser and curiouser.

 

I was literally wondering about this story this morning. Thanks for the update.

I just thought it had fallen off the radar.

If I stole that much gold, you would never find it in the form I stole it in. It would be home melted and recast and sold in like Nevada and the western part of the country.

 

At the very least, you'd think they'd have dug or pounded out the punched-in info.

Then again, most people don't take up larceny as an intellectual pursuit.

 

I'm done with this story. First they said it seemed like an inside job. Now, there's no mention of this and they just talk about the robbers getting away

 

Remember this story? There was an arrest this week, and the FBI has released more details about the theft. It looks like my original guesses and suspicions were, well, not too accurate...

http://www.wral.com/fbi-reveals-details-of-4-8m-gold-truck-robbery/15475307/

The alleged ringleader, Adalberto Perez, apparently spent a year preparing for the heist. It was an "inside job" only in the sense that Perez was able to place a remote-control pepper-spray launcher to incapacitate the driver; that, I guess, was the "gas smell" that overpowered him. He also planted a GPS device to keep track of the truck.

Perez was smart enough to chip off and sell anonymous bits of gold, rather than trying to move the whole bar at once. He wasn't smart enough, though, to keep quiet about it, and one of the "friends" he confided in eventually became an informant.

 

Goodfellas

 

Whatta way to go down though......pretty much the perfect crime and his buddy dimed him out.....sheesh

 

Isnt there a saying somewhere out there about loose lips and the titanic?

 

Loose lips sink ships......https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loose_lips_sink_ships

 

More like Heat

Just pepper spray & GPS instead of a semi truck smash and grab

Both De Niro movies though

 

Isn't it odd that none of the drivers mentioned anything about pepper spray last year. I seem to recall they said something about diesel fumes making one of them sick.

 

Anyone know where they left the trailer???

 

I got the transfer truck, Brett. Pick you up in five minutes!