United States security expert Jarret Lafleur has crunched the data and found that the world’s most audacious heists had some key ingredients.<\/p>\n
And lo and behold our Argyle heist has some of the key elements.<\/p>\n
In keeping with the caper of the podcast, our resident cartoonist has re-imagined the six different heists, and given them a very special pink-roo twist.<\/p>\n
Snap on your catsuit and take a journey through the world’s ultimate heists.<\/p>\n
: Stealth raid<\/h2>\n
A type of heist known as a stealth raid.(ABC News: Kemii Maguire<\/span><\/span><\/span>)<\/p>\n Thieves actively circumvent security measures without the knowledge of security forces.<\/p>\n Class: Nonviolent<\/p>\n The Antwerp diamond heist was one of the largest robberies in history and it happened in one of the most fortified businesses in the world \u2013 the Antwerp Diamond Centre.\u00a0<\/p>\n What the thieves pulled off on the Valentine’s Day weekend in Belgium in 2003 was of Mission Impossible proportions.<\/p>\n They hacked into multiple security mechanisms including a lock with 100 million possible combinations.\u00a0<\/p>\n They dodged motion sensors, infrared beams and seismic sensors to descend two storeys underground to enter the Antwerp diamond vault and empty the place.<\/p>\n “The thieves, in this case, executed what I called a stealth raid, where they broke into a facility over a holiday weekend,” Jarret\u00a0Lafleur said.<\/p>\n “The mastermind of that heist, as far as we know, planted himself in the facility two years in advance of the heist, to gather the information he needed to actually execute [it].”<\/p>\n Jarret\u00a0Lafleur\u00a0works for the United States government in the\u00a0security lab\u00a0Sandia National Labs\u00a0and co-authored the study The Perfect Heist: Recipes from Around the World.<\/p>\n The reason to study high-stake heists was to see what they could learn about protecting US government assets from attack.<\/p>\n Jarret\u00a0said the Antwerp thieves made off with up to $600 million\u00a0in cash, gold and diamonds but some of their methods were surprisingly low-tech.<\/p>\n “In order to disable the motion sensor, it was hairspray and a styrofoam block,”\u00a0Jarret\u00a0said.<\/p>\n “Not that complicated.”<\/p>\n Back to top<\/a><\/p>\n Thieves passively circumvent security measures without the knowledge of security forces.<\/p>\n Class: Nonviolent<\/p>\n It was a regular day on the casino floor for Stardust Casino croupier William Brennan.<\/p>\n Instead of taking a lunch break, he exited the building in plain sight.<\/p>\n Wearing a backpack of cash and chips worth $US800,000, he passed the security guards on his way out.\u00a0<\/p>\n “He was never seen again,” Jarret Lafleur said.<\/p>\n “I understand he stopped by his apartment to pick up his cat before he left.”<\/p>\n William Brennan may have been the ultimate cat burglar riding off into the Las Vegas sunset with his feline companion, but Jarret\u00a0said his was a well-executed crime.<\/p>\n “Some of the top lessons learned that I learned as a result of this report, and that we highlight in the report, are\u00a0that often the ways that you get into a facility, they’re not particularly high tech,”\u00a0he said.<\/p>\n Podcast<\/span> In all my years of journalism, there is one story that’s stuck with me.<\/p>\n Space to play or pause, M to mute, left and right arrows to seek, up and down arrows for volume.<\/span><\/p>\n “They don’t have to be high-tech, often you just need to find the right combination of low-tech measures to\u00a0get you into the facility, and get you the goods that you’re looking to steal.”<\/p>\n It was an insider that was also instrumental in the Argyle diamond heist\u00a0in the late 1980s\/early 1990s\u00a0at the mine in WA’s Kimberley<\/a>.<\/p>\n The thieves eluded WA police for years.<\/p>\n Argyle security officer Barry Crimmins pocketed diamonds from the mine, including the famous Argyle pinks, in cahoots with Perth horse trainer Lindsay Roddan.<\/p>\n The stolen gems were then sold into the famous diamond trading centres of Antwerp and Geneva.<\/p>\n Richard Corfield was in charge of security for all of Argyle’s operations, including the mine.\u00a0<\/p>\n He said he was shocked when they finally worked out the diamond heist was an inside job.<\/p>\n “Barry was recruited as a security guard and then he was made up to superintendent,”\u00a0he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n “I agreed to it \u2026 later on, we find out how wrong we had been.<\/p>\n “He was that good, a really clever criminal.”\u00a0<\/p>\n Back to top<\/a><\/p>\n Employing violence towards property rather than people, thieves seize valuables by relying on the\u00a0delay between theft detection and security force response.<\/p>\n Class: Violent<\/p>\n When you think of a daring heist, Hollywood has programmed us to imagine thieves landing via helicopter on a roof, stealthily lowering themselves down a pyramid skylight to a basement vault, emptying it and disappearing into the night.<\/p>\n The crooks involved in the Vastberga Helicopter Heist of 2009 obviously read the same script.<\/p>\n “There was one [heist] in Sweden [Vastberga] involving a helicopter, where criminals landed on top of the building\u00a0\u2026\u00a0and broke into the facility while there were people still working in the facility,”\u00a0Jarret said.<\/p>\n “But you know, in my book, if you’re a criminal, you probably don’t want to have to do that.”<\/p>\n Back to top<\/a><\/p>\n Via violent means, individuals and\/or security systems are controlled or incapacitated prior to the seizure of valuables.<\/p>\n Class: Violent<\/p>\n Then there are\u00a0the heists that rope innocent bystanders into the robbery.<\/p>\n One of the most notorious was the robbery at the Brink’s-Mat security depot near Heathrow airport in London in 1983.\u00a0<\/p>\n A gang of armed men entered the warehouse with the help of a security guard at dawn.<\/p>\n Once inside they poured petrol over the staff and threatened them with a lit match if they did not reveal the combination of the vault.\u00a0<\/p>\n “In many cases like Brink’s-Mat, these were people who were coerced in real time during the robbery, and enforced to help,”\u00a0Jarret\u00a0said.<\/p>\n The thieves got away with \u00a326 million worth of gold bullion, diamonds and cash from the depot near Heathrow.\u00a0<\/p>\n Scotland Yard eventually tracked the thieves down but most of the gold was never recovered.<\/p>\n Back to top<\/a><\/p>\n A subdue and seize event preceded by a deception or diversion, typically permitting the thieves access that they would not normally have.<\/p>\n Class: Violent<\/p>\n Almost all high-value robberies involve deception, according to Jarret\u00a0Lafleur.<\/p>\n The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum art heist in 1990 was no exception.\u00a0<\/p>\n Two men posing as Boston police officers approached the art gallery after midnight.\u00a0<\/p>\n They claimed to be responding to a disturbance and convinced security\u00a0to let them in.\u00a0<\/p>\n The phoney officers handcuffed the security guards, wrapped duct tape around their eyes and mouths and left them in the basement.\u00a0<\/p>\n In 81 minutes, the thieves stole 13 works of art worth $US440 million.<\/p>\n The crime remains unsolved despite a $US10 million reward for any information that leads to the safe return of the works<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n Museum staff told the ABC its commitment to resolving the crime had\u00a0never diminished.<\/p>\n “The Gardner Museum’s\u00a0investigation, in coordination with the FBI, is active\u00a0and ongoing.<\/p>\n “We remain optimistic for the\u00a0recovery of the objects and the return to their rightful place\u00a0\u2014\u00a0on view in\u00a0the galleries of the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum for the public to\u00a0enjoy.”<\/p>\n Back to top<\/a><\/p>\n A subdue and seize event\u00a0preceded by a kidnapping, typically of an individual with access and his family, coercing a person with access the thieves need to act as an insider.<\/p>\n Class: Violent<\/p>\n Just as a tiger stalks its prey before it strikes, so\u00a0do some of the criminals behind some of the world’s most notorious heists.\u00a0<\/p>\n Tiger kidnappings were adapted from Irish Republican Army (IRA) tactics in the 1970s.<\/p>\n The gang behind the Northern Bank heist employed this strategy in 2004 when they abducted family members of two bank officials.<\/p>\n The thieves made\u00a0off with \u00a326.5 million\u00a0from the bank’s vault in central Belfast.<\/p>\n Jarret Lafleur said despite the fact that most of perpetrators of the heists he studied were caught, it wasn’t because of a lack of planning.<\/p>\n “Valerio Viccei, who is the mastermind of the Knightsbridge safe deposit centre heist, once said, ‘It’s like a big challenge, like the Olympic Games,'” Jarret\u00a0said.<\/p>\n “So I think there’s a lot in that quote. That is really interesting, right?<\/p>\n “When he says here,\u00a0‘It’s like a big challenge, you’ve trained for a good part of your life, you’ve gone through your initial criminal career, and now you’re at \u2026 the\u00a0top of your game, going after these big targets’, in that process, you’ve probably learned a lot.”<\/p>\n Jarret\u00a0Lafleur said\u00a0the US government wanted to crunch the data on high-value heists to see what it could learn about protecting valuable government assets.<\/p>\n “In the US government, we care about making sure we understand the right threats, the\u00a0things that the US government stores might have to deal with,”\u00a0he said.<\/p>\n But as he found out, almost all daring heists share a key ingredient: insiders.<\/p>\n “I was a small Latin scholar, and there was a great quote in Latin, which was quis custodiet ipsos custodes, which basically says, ‘Who watches the watchers?’ or ‘Who will watch the watchers?’<\/p>\n “That’s a tough problem.”<\/p>\nStealth raid<\/h2>\n
Surprisingly low-tech\u00a0methods have been used in heists such as stealth raids.(ABC News: Kemii Maguire<\/span><\/span><\/span>)<\/p>\n
Authors of The Perfect Heist: Alex\u00a0Roesler, Luke Purvis and Jarret\u00a0Lafleur.(Supplied: Jarret Lafleur<\/span><\/span><\/span>)<\/p>\n
: Walk away<\/h2>\n
A walk away heist.(ABC News: Kemii Maguire<\/span><\/span><\/span>)<\/p>\n
Walk away<\/h2>\n
The theft at the Stardust Casino\u00a0in the US in 1992 was an example of a walk away\u00a0heist.(ABC News: Kemii Maguire<\/span><\/span><\/span>)<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Expanse<\/h2>\n
Pink Diamond Heist | The Argyle Intrigue<\/h3>\n
Some of the stolen pink diamonds that were recovered.(Supplied: WA Police\/John Watling<\/span><\/span><\/span>)<\/p>\n
: Smash & grab<\/h2>\n
A category of heist known as a\u00a0smash and grab.(ABC News: Kemii Maguire<\/span><\/span><\/span>)<\/p>\n
Smash and grab<\/h2>\n
Smash and\u00a0grabs are perhaps\u00a0what you imagine to be\u00a0the quintessential heist, but not so for thieves, say security analysts.(ABC News: Kemii Maguire<\/span><\/span><\/span>)<\/p>\n
: Subdue & seize\u00a0<\/h2>\n
A subdue and seize heist.(ABC News: Kemii Maguire<\/span><\/span><\/span>)<\/p>\n
Subdue and seize<\/h2>\n
A heist known as subdue and seize involves violence to\u00a0control\u00a0people or security systems.(ABC News: Kemii Maguire<\/span><\/span><\/span>)<\/p>\n
:\u00a0Deceive, subdue & seize<\/h2>\n
Art worth $US440 million was stolen from a museum in a\u00a0deceive, subdue and seize heist.(ABC News: Kemii Maguire<\/span><\/span><\/span>)<\/p>\n
Deceive, subdue and seize<\/h2>\n
A list\u00a0of motion\u00a0alarms from the night of the art heist.(Supplied: Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston<\/span><\/span><\/span>)<\/p>\n
One of the stolen works is The Concert by Johannes Vermeer, from about 1665.(Supplied: Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston<\/span><\/span><\/span>)
Another is\u00a0Rembrandt van Rijn’s\u00a0Christ in the Storm on the Sea of Galilee (1633).(Supplied: Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston<\/span><\/span><\/span>)<\/p>\n
:\u00a0Tiger kidnapping<\/h2>\n
A type of heist known as a tiger kidnapping.(ABC News: Kemii Maguire<\/span><\/span><\/span>)<\/p>\n
Tiger kidnapping<\/h2>\n
An artist’s impression of\u00a0a tiger kidnapping.(ABC News: Kemii Maguire<\/span><\/span><\/span>)<\/p>\n
Jarret Lafleur says almost all the audacious heists he studied involved insiders.(Supplied: Jarret Lafleur<\/span><\/span><\/span>)<\/p>\n