Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
The illustration in the article of pallets of gold being loaded into a semi is so ridiculous it is funny.
Standard gold bars are slightly smaller than masonry brick. Depending on the price of gold when you calculate it, it would take 18 gold bars, more or less, to equal the value reported stolen. They could easily be put in the back of a van or an SUV by a couple of people in a few minutes.
Edit: it looks like Ken explained much of it while I was typing.
My thought, exactly. They must have been tipped off to the fact, that that cargo would be passing through at a certain time. But how do you move that much gold? And to pull off such a heist without being caught on security cameras also points to insider cooperation, perhaps shutting off the cameras and other security devices?
How do you move so much gold? 14 great big dump trucks.
Definitely with inside help.
The security cameras all failed simultaneously, just like in the movies.
Agree it was an inside job probably consisting of multiple employees who had to look the other way.
The one article linked said they were surprised the load was not in a secure area like it should have been and that not many people even knew the gold was coming in.
Well, according to a couple of our members posting here, the amount stolen would only involve 19 gold bars, so--no dump trucks necessary.
This is starting to remind me of the guy from Ecuador who walked by a bucket of gold dust sitting in the back of an open Brinks truck, and simply walked off with it. The driver was distracted elsewhere for a few moments, and no passers-by reported the theft or tried to stop it. While one wouldn't be able to simply walk away with 19 gold bars, as someone else posted-- you could drive away with that amount, with just an SUV.
According to reports, as I recall, the Ecuadoran guy managed to get all the way to Ecuador with some of his gold. Or...er...with some of the gold.
Edit/update on the Ecuadoran case: He discovered that it wasn't gold dust at all; it was 2 gold bars in the bucket. He managed to sell some of the gold, left the rest in a storage locker. Eventually he was caught in Ecuador, but only got a 1-yr sentence, and was released after 9 months for good behavior. He's not sure where the rest of the gold is, but thinks his gf in New Jersey, to whom he entrusted it, ripped him off.
Using the figures quoted in the article, you can calculate that they stole 514 lbs of gold. A cubic foot of gold weighs more than 1200 lbs. It's very heavy.
If what they stole was a cube, it would measure about 9"x9"x9". Definitely not enough to fill a pool
Here they are saying it was 2 tonnes
Police is saying it was a theft of a "high value container"*carrying gold and other valuable items worth an estimated*$20 million.
It looks like they don't really know?
"The Toronto Sun reported that the thieves made off with 3,600lbs (1.8 tons) of gold, citing anonymous sources saying authorities were looking at organised crime groups in the region."
" The officials confirmed the aircraft container was around 5 sq ft in size, but would not say how much it weighed."
If you follow the link to YouTube, you will find this correction that it actually wasn't 2 tons.
"Initially, reports suggested that the stolen gold weighed around 3,600lb, which would have been worth over £84million. However, local authorities now estimate that the thieves made off with £12million worth of gold."
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.