Iran: several arrests including abroad after a spectacular burglary
A photo obtained by AFP from Iran's Tasnim news agency on June 10, 2022 shows jewelry seized from suspected thieves accused of fleeing with the contents of more than 160 safes from a bank branch in the capital, in police custody in Tehran.
A state-owned lender said thieves took advantage of a public holiday on June 5 to break into a branch of Bank Melli on Enghelab Street, a major thoroughfare in Tehran.
AFP - NASER JAFARI
Text by: RFI Follow
1 min
Iran experienced its biggest bank robbery on Sunday (June 5th), as thieves emptied 160 safes from a branch of Bank Melli of Iran (BMI), the country's largest banking institution, in the center of from Tehran.
The suspected burglars have been arrested.
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With our correspondent in Tehran
,
Siavosh Ghazi
It's a heist worthy of Hollywood movies.
Taking advantage of four public holidays, thieves quietly entered the bank through the parking lot door to empty 160 safes.
According to the Fars news agency, the thieves forced the lock on the back door of the bank while going through the parking lot and came out through the same door, closing it behind them.
The police, however, managed to arrest 10 of the burglars in Iran itself and, with the help of Interpol, three others were arrested in a neighboring country and must be brought back to the country, according to Tehran's police chief.
“
Much of the contents of the safes have been recovered.
There were thousands of gold coins, valuable jewelry and many wads of dollar, euro and other foreign currency notes,
” the police chief said.
The television showed the images of banknotes and gold coins spread out on a long table over ten meters.
The question now is how to return all these coins and currencies to their owners.
Indeed, the contents of the safes are a secret and the bank must assess the contents of each of them.
According to some experts, many Iranians keep in banks or at home more than 20 billion dollars in foreign currency or gold coins, to avoid a devaluation of their money, while inflation has exceeded 40% annually for several years. .
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