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France Bank Robbery 1976: There are many incidents of bank robbery in the world but the Societe Generale bank robbery in France is unique. The word amazing is being used here because the accused of this robbery was an ordinary photographer and he stole Rs 900 crore from the world's most secure Manatee bank in 27 hours but did not let anyone know.
The biggest robbery of the century
The robbery that took place in Nice, France on 19 July 1976 shocked people. The robbery took place in the Societe Generale Bank, which is considered to be the safest in the world. A security alarm was not installed in the bank thinking that it is impossible to rob in this bank. There is no need to install a security alarm, but this overconfidence has cost the bank heavily. The thieves definitely broke into it and spent 27 hours inside the vault.
Bank employees did not open the security vault
When the bank employees arrived in the morning, they came to know about the theft and like every day, they tried to open the lock and door of the bank vault but even after all the efforts, the vault did not open. Experts from the vault manufacturing company were called but they understood that the vault was jammed and this was a major incident.
They were shocked when they saw a hole in the safe
When there was a huge crowd of customers in front of the bank and the bank vault did not open, the experts decided to drill a hole in the vault to see inside to understand what the problem was in opening the vault. Still, bank robbery did not come to their mind as there were no signs of forced entry on the vault door indicating that someone had opened it or attempted to open it.
When a hole was made in the vault wall with a heavy drilling machine and looked inside, it was found that someone had welded and locked the vault door from inside. The bank employees were shocked to see this situation. Many lockers were open and valuables were missing. Cash was missing. After calculation, it was found that it was a theft of about Rs 900 crore.
Police could not trace the bank robbers
The only way to enter the bank's vault was through a door. Then no one understood how the thief got inside the vault. No clue was found as to how to reach the thief. After a long time, one of the thieves made a mistake in following his girlfriend and his investigation led to a clue which revealed the identity of the bank robbers.
The photographer had planned the robbery
Investigation revealed that the mastermind of the gang that stole Rs 900 crore from a French bank was a photographer. The photographer opened a locker in the bank and went inside the vault several times on the pretext of operating it and took photographs of every part of the vault.
There was no security alarm in the bank
To know what the security alarm in a bank looks like and what the reaction of the security personnel is when it is activated, photographer Albert Spaziari set the alarm in his locker and put a clock. Which was ringing at night but the security alarm was not installed in the bank thinking that no one should even think of stealing in this most secure bank. Well, this mistake became very big. The photographer took advantage of this loop hole and started planning the robbery.
tunnel made for theft
A web series photographer is planning to build a tunnel to reach the bank's vault so that he can enter it through an underground route. For this, he cleverly prepared a map of the entire sewer line around the bank. To build the tunnel, he contacted a gangster and then along with his members, built the tunnel. A part of which was coming out into the sewer line.
Curry stolen in 27 hours
The thieves used several heavy gas cutters to reach the bank vaults through tunnels. Then after reaching inside the vault, they comfortably took out the money, broke several lockers and took out precious jewellery etc. Meanwhile, lunch and dinner were also prepared and eaten in the vault. Then everything was wrapped and the vault door was sealed from inside with the help of welding.
A message for the bank
While leaving after the theft, the thief also wrote a message in French on the wall – 'Sans armes sans hain et sans violence' which means, 'Theft without weapons, without hatred and without violence.'
According to that time, the value of the loot was more than 20 million dollars. Which is worth 110 million dollars or 900 crore Indian rupees in today's time. It is counted among the biggest robberies in the world. Photographer Albert Spaziari later pleaded guilty and was sentenced to life imprisonment.