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Thieves stole $30 million from this warehouse near Los Angeles on Easter Sunday
Photo: Richard Vogel / AP
Investigators in Los Angeles have to solve one of the largest cash thefts in the city's history: As Police Chief Elaine Morales explained to the Los Angeles Times, thieves broke into a money vault in an industrial area in Sylmar in the San Fernando Valley on the night of Easter Sunday cracked a safe and stole 30 million US dollars (almost 28 million euros). The operators only discovered the massive theft when they opened the safe on Monday.
According to the report, it is a site of GardaWorld, a global security company from Canada. Cash from companies from all over the region is stored in the building in Sylmar, writes the Los Angeles Times, but only a few people knew about it.
Several television crews filmed on Thursday morning at the site, located about 30 kilometers north of downtown Los Angeles. Aerial footage from KABC-TV shows a large cut on the side of the building, with the gap covered by a piece of plywood. According to the Los Angeles Times, the burglars probably got into the building through this hole and another on the roof. Only an experienced team is capable of such a complex break-in.
Security consultant Jim McGuffey called the theft "a shock." GardaWorld has a good reputation in the industry. "With that much money, you can't just come in and leave again," he told the AP news agency. Any such building should be protected from top to bottom and on the sides, as well as have two alarm systems and a motion detector directly on the safe.
According to the Los Angeles Times, at least one alarm went off during the attack. But this apparently had no consequences. GardaWorld has yet to comment.
vet/AP